Aliens & Demons
by Ileana Eve
Summary: After Prue’s death, Piper and Phoebe discover that the Charmed Ones’s destiny has yet to be fulfilled and someone new has been endowed with Prue’s powers. Meanwhile, in Roswell, some strange things start happening to Maria Deluca. RoswellCharmed
1. Possible is Just Relative Anyway

**Aliens & Demons, Pt. 1 "Possible is Just Relative Anyway"**

Rating: PG-13 for mild language

Category: Roswell/Charmed AU crossover. There's not much focus on the couples, but any that do show up will be mainly conventional. Takes place after Season 3 of Charmed and mid Season 2 of Roswell, before Alex's death.

Summary: After Prue's death, the Power of Three is broken forever. Or is it? Piper and Phoebe discover that the Charmed Ones's destiny has yet to be fulfilled and someone new has been endowed with Prue's powers. Meanwhile, in Roswell, some strange things start happening to Maria Deluca.

Author's Note: I've tried hard to make sure that everything in this story stays consistent with the canon of both shows involved. That said, I'm (a) not a writer on either show and (b) human, so I ask for your patience if you notice any errors. That said, on to your regularly scheduled fic.

Author's Note, circa 4/3/06: As some of you may have noticed, there is a rather large gap between now and when I first posted this story. Because of this, a few minor things about the early chapters (little style, flow, and sentence structure issues) have been bugging me for a while now. So as I near the end of the story, I've taken the time to go back and edit a few little issues from Part One. Nothing major pertaining to plot or characterization, just a few things to make the early parts of the story gel better with the current style of the writing (after all, after two and a half years, I like to think that my writing has improved at least a little). You probably won't notice the changes even if you've read the original version, but it makes me feel better.

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Leo could hear Piper crying from outside her bedroom door. He sighed. It seemed like Piper had been crying nonstop since Prue died, but much as he just wanted to be sympathetic and comfort her in any way he could, right now he needed to be her Whitelighter, not her husband, and tell her what the Elders had just told him.

Leo tried Piper's bedroom door but found it locked, so he tapped gingerly on the door. "Piper? Can I come in?" There was no reply, but he heard the lock click open, so he turned the knob and entered the room. His wife looked up at him, and Leo felt horrible as soon as he looked into her red-rimmed eyes. It was easy for him to become accustomed to Piper's almost constant hysterics and lose sight of just how raw her emotions were at the moment. He sat down next to her and set his hand on her back.

"Listen, I just got back from talking with the Elders, and I have some news for you and Phoebe."

"What news could there possibly be?" Piper interrupted, incredulous. "The Power of Three was broken. It's over, were done. Done with demons, done with the Elders, done with being witches."

"Well…that might not be true, actually." Leo said softly. He hesitated when he saw the look on his wife's face, then hurried to explain. "See, the power of the Charmed Ones wasn't supposed to end so soon. When Prue died-" He ignored the choked sob that his wife gave at the mention of Prue's death and carried on, "When Prue died, the Charmed Ones's destiny had yet to be fulfilled. Prue still had a lot of power that she had yet to tap into. Now normally, when a witch dies, her power dies with her, or goes out into the ether and can't be used again. But when I tried to heal her, her powers hadn't yet died completely, and as a result, they could still be tapped into, even given to someone else to use."

Now Piper snapped fully to attention. Slowly, as if she was struggling to keep her feelings reined in, she spoke. "What do you mean? Just tell me Leo, I'm not in the mood for crap."

"All right. The Elders gave someone Prue's else powers."

"What- who- wha?" Piper sputtered, staring at him as if _he_ personally had taken her precious big sister's powers and given them to somebody else.

"To keep the Power of Three intact. They found a girl, younger than you and Phoebe as I understand it, who they thought could handle it, who they thought deserved the powers. And now they want me to bring her here to meet you guys, to complete the Power of Three. Again."

"**_What?_**" Leo cringed as his wife's scream echoed throughout the room. "As if the Elders haven't screwed our lives up enough already, now they want to bring some innocent girl- someone we would have been obligated to _protect_ not two months ago, into our lives? They can't just _do_ that. It's not fair to her, and it's sure as hell not fair to Phoebe and I. They can't tell us to just start being witches again, Leo!" By now, Piper was storming around the room, tears streaming down her face as she ranted.

Leo jumped up and put his hands over Piper's biceps so that she would stop pacing the room. "Shh… I know that it's asking a lot of you guys, but this girl already has the power. She might not know it yet, but her powers are going to start showing themselves soon, and we need to be around to help her accept them. Whether we like it or not, she has the power. It's our responsibility to guide her, to show her how to use her powers."

Piper paused. "Will demons start going after her?" she finally asked softly. He could almost hear the wheels turning in her head. Leo relaxed, relieved that Piper wasn't going to start screaming again

"Yeah, they will. Once the Underworld realizes that the Power of Three is still out there and that there is a weak link, demons will probably try to eliminate her before she becomes more powerful."

Piper sniffled and wiped her eyes. "Then I'll do it." She looked up at him. "I'll- I'll call Phoebe and explain what's going on. You should orb her here, to the Manor."

Leo gave Piper a short hug, grateful that his wife could still think rationally even with all that had happened. Even when she was filled with grief at losing a sister, she couldn't overrule the instinct to protect. At least that was something. "All right, I'm on my way."

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"Where's our salt shaker?"

Maria groaned inwardly. She had just turned her back on the table she was serving, and already they were complaining again. It was amazing. This one table on a lazy Tuesday afternoon was giving her more trouble than a section full patrons on a busy Saturday night. Clenching her jaw, she grabbed a salt shaker from the nearest table and set it down on the table.

"There you are. Anything else?" She tried her best to sound cheerful, but even to her own ears, her voice sounded strained.

"No, I think we have everything we need here. Finally." It was all that Maria could do not to reach across the table and strangle the guy. From the moment they had walked in, this man and his wife had been making her job difficult for her, from asking her to find them chairs that didn't "feel so stiff" to changing their orders around numerous times, to requesting something new every five seconds, and now they had the nerve to imply that she was giving them slow service? She forced herself to keep a smile on her face, but the moment she turned away, she rolled her eyes and let her mouth form a grimace.

She walked over to Liz, who was giving her a sympathetic smile. "Can you believe those people?" Maria whispered fiercely as soon as they were out of earshot.

"Come on Maria, we've had picky customers in here before." Liz reminded her. "You just have be polite to them if it kills you. You can't let them put you in a bad mood."

"I can't help it Liz. They're treating me like some kind of personal servant, and I-" Maria was cut off by an annoying familiar whistle.

"Hey, could we get some service over here now? My wife would like a chocolate milkshake!" Liz laughed at Maria's pained expression as she turned to work on the milkshake.

"See Maria, they're getting dessert. They can't stay around for too much longer."

"Too bad. I was thinking of starting a bet with Liz on how long you could stand them before you would implode." Michael's voice called from behind the counter, a smirk on his face. Maria simply shot him a withering glare as she topped off the milkshake with whipped cream and turned to carry it over to the table.

When she set the milkshake down, however, the woman's eyebrows knotted together and she gave a large sigh. "There was a cherry on top in the picture on the menu here." She held up the dessert menu so that Maria could see. "Don't I get a cherry on top?" Maria clenched her teeth, anger clouding her senses until, very suddenly, she felt a burst of power surge through her and the jar of maraschino cherries kept in the freezer came flying through the back door, straight at the woman. She ducked just in time and the jar shattered against the wall above her, scattering cherries and glass all over the table.

The woman slowly lifted her head, sputtering in disbelief. Liz looked at Michael as if to ask, 'Was that you?' Michael shrugged, eyes wide. Maria however, stared at the spot on the wall where the cherry jar had hit. _Did I do that?_ She wondered. No, too impossible. But then, there had been that surge of power…

"Maria. Maria?" Liz poked her friend, holding out some towels to her.

"Oh, right." Maria snapped out of her thoughts, taking the towels. "Um…Sir, Ma'am, we're very sorry about this. The shake's on us, of course." Liz gave her a look, so Maria quickly amended her statement. "Actually, the whole meal's on us." She gave them a brief smile, her previous anger gone, replaced by confusion. _What just happened? Is all this alien stuff finally rubbing off on me? _

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Maria was still asking herself that very question when she got home that afternoon. She still hadn't come up with anything that sounded even remotely possible, but being around weird alien things for so long, she had begun to thing of possible as relative anyway. But she had managed to come up with a plan, and that was why she was sitting on her bed right now, staring intensely at a satchel of potpourri. She had been trying to bring back that surge of power, with little success. If she could just make it move a little bit…

_Wait, what am I talking about?_ Maria wondered. _I don't want to have some kind of weird powers._ Or at least, she never had before. She had never envied Max or Michael or even Isabel for their powers. But now that she thought that she might actually have some kind of powers herself, she found that the idea didn't bother her so much. In fact, it might even be kind of nice. She wouldn't just be wacky Maria anymore; she would have something special. Something that set her apart, even from the aliens. Maybe…

Her thoughts were interrupted when she noticed blue lights beginning to twinkle in the air by her bed, increasing in number until they had formed a growing blue ball of light. She gave a small screech of surprise. _Am I doing that?_ But then the more logical part of Maria kicked in. _No, couldn't be me, I'm not even concentrating or angry like I was before. And I moved something last time; I didn't conjure a bunch of white light!_

So Maria was left with little to do but watch as the lights faded and in their place stood…a man?

"Woah, wasn't expecting that." Maria's said, eyes widened as she backed closer to the door.

"Look Maria, just stay calm. I'm here to-"

"Stay calm? _Stay calm?_ I don't even know who you are, and all of a sudden there's this-" Maria wiggled her fingers in an attempt to mime the way the twinkling lights had come down, "And now there's some weird guy who knows my name standing in my room for no apparent reason. Wait…you're not here to kidnap me, are you? Oh God, I knew that getting mixed up with Czechoslovakians would get me into trouble some day!"

"Czechoslovakians? Uh…" The guy looked at Maria, his face a mixture of alarm and bewilderment. "Look, I know that this seems really weird, but my name is Leo." He shrugged in confusion, then his face hardened. "I have something important to tell you."

"Oh sure, that's what they all say before they take you off to be studied!" Maria exclaimed, her fear mounting. "Look, I'm not an alien, all right? The thing at the Crashdown didn't mean anything, I swear! It was just some kind of weird fluke."

"What happened at the Crashdown?" Leo-or-so-he-said-his-name-was asked, and Maria noticed that he was furrowing his eyebrows. Did evil aliens always furrow their eyebrows at you and ask you questions before they took you?

"As if you don't know. The thing with the cherry jar flying at the woman? Just try and tell me that you didn't see that and now that's why you're here."

His face cleared, as if he had just begun to understand what she was talking about. "Oh, well, I definitely didn't see you do that, but I guess you could say that's why I'm here. Sorry, I shouldn't have just orbed in like that."

"Orbed?"

"The thing with all the blue light? That was orbing. If you'd just listen to me, I'd explain."

In spite all her instincts to do otherwise- to run out of the house and find Michael, Liz, anyone really- Maria sat down on the bed, her fear taking the back seat to curiosity. "All right, talk mister. But make it quick, because I really don't want to have to explain you to my mother."

"You live with your mother?" Leo was visibly surprised, but Maria sighed impatiently.

"Yeah, so? Back to the explaining thing you promised."

"Right." Leo nodded.

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Leo paused, struggling with how to begin. That part about her living with her mother had really thrown his mind off track. How old was this girl anyway? He couldn't see why The Elders would have chosen someone just out of high school- maybe even still _in_ high school, to take on Prue's powers. Teenagers weren't exactly known for their self-control, and you needed self-control to handle power. Not only that, but Maria seemed the exact opposite of what a Charmed One needed to be. Hysterical, easily shakable, even paranoid. She apparently even bought into the whole Roswell alien stories. Ah well, crazy or not, she was his charge, and he had to explain things to her.

"Look, why don't I put it to you as simply as I can first, and then I'll work on filling you in on details?" He looked to her for approval, and she gave a brief nod, presumably eager to get on with the explanation. "Okay, demons are real. So are witches. Not all witches have powers, but many do. There is-_was_ a group of three powerful sister witches who lived in San Francisco and fought demons. They were called the Charmed Ones, and they were supposed to be the most powerful witches that ever lived. Just a few days ago, one of them died, and now you-" He paused to nod toward an unreadable Maria, "Have received her powers. Any questions?" Maria just stared at him, and Leo smiled a little. "Look, I know that it's a lot to take in." He said. "But I promise, it's all true."

"You're telling me that I'm a witch. And that I have magical powers. Yeah, okay dude."

"What do you think the thing with the cherry jar was? _You_ sent it flying at the woman. That's one of you're powers, telekinesis. You can astral project too, but that's a power that takes a little more time to tap into."

Maria was silent for a moment. Leo couldn't read her face, though he thought she might be turning the idea over in her head. "Okay, so saying that I believe you." She finally said. "What exactly does that mean?"

Leo looked her straight in the eye. This was the tough part. "The connection between the Charmed Ones is one of the things that demons are most determined to break. The Charmed Ones are stopping them from wreaking their havoc on the world and if one of the Charmed Ones dies, it breaks the bond, and the remaining witches are no longer near as powerful. It's called the Power of Three. If one of you dies, the others are just ordinary witches. And since you haven't learned how to fully use your powers yet… well, they'll probably start coming after you if you don't catch up soon." He shrugged. "It's what you pay for being one of the most powerful witches in the world."

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_One of the most powerful witches in the world._ Maria tried to wrap her finger around the concept, but she could not. She was just Maria, not some all-powerful entity. Having powers no longer sounded as fun. She supposed that Leo could be lying, but… well, why would he want to lie about something like this? And if aliens existed, why couldn't witches and demons? "Okay, so you're telling me that demons are trying to kill me. Well, that's just great. What am I supposed to do about this exactly? Hide in my room until I've mastered this whole _Carrie_ thing?"

"Well, if you would be willing to… I mean, I kind of need you to come with me to San Francisco to meet the Piper and Phoebe. Halliwell. They're the surviving sisters."

"And how exactly do you propose that we get to San Francisco? Because much as I'm _dying_ to go on a road trip with you, I don't exactly have time to go cavorting off to another state."

"Remember how I got into your room?" He asked.

"Well, you- ohhh, no way. If you think that I'm going to let you beam me up or whatever it is that you call it, you are sadly mistaken mister."

"It doesn't take long, and I can bring you back here any time. Besides, you'll be safer in the Halliwell manor than you are here."

Maria sighed, but walked up next to him, understanding the logic of what he was saying. "Okay, work your magic." She saw Leo give her a small smile; then he put an arm around her shoulder, and she suddenly felt almost as if she was floating, except that all of her senses were detached, replaced by pure warmth and a faint blue light.

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Phoebe Halliwell was nervous, of that much she was sure. Her other emotions couldn't be so easily defined. As soon as he had heard about the new Charmed One, Cole had left for the underworld to keep his ears open for news of any demons that might be readying an attack. Piper was on edge, skittering through the house and looking as though she was about to explode, though at least the news of the new witch had given her something to think about besides Prue's death. Leo was probably with the woman right now, informing her of her Charmed duties. And Prue . . . well, Prue was dead now. Phoebe hated it, obviously, but if she didn't at least stay calm for her other sister, she knew that things in the Halliwell household would fall apart.

_We haven't had long enough,_ she thought. _It's too soon to bring a new witch into the Power of Three._ But then, in Phoebe's eyes, it would always be too soon for someone to take the position that had been held so effortlessly by Prue. She had been a reluctant witch, sure, but she was also remarkably powerful, both in her magical ability and her quick thinking. And of course, no one could replace the sisterly bond that she had shared with Prue. Phoebe felt tears prick at her eyes and tried in vain to blink them away.

Phoebe had begun to feel that she should just go upstairs and have a good cry when the familiar lights of Leo's orb began to twinkle in front of her, increasing in frequency until Leo was standing in front of her, a girl clinging to his shoulder, eyes closed. She looked young, and when she opened her eyes, Phoebe could read the fear in them. "Is that…?" She turned to Leo with a questioning glance, more than a little surprised at the youth of the girl in front of her.

Leo nodded silently. Phoebe had known Leo long enough to see that he had exactly the same worry she did, that this girl couldn't handle it, that there was no way that this renewed Power of Three was going to remain intact for long. "This is Maria from Roswell, New Mexico. She's . . . uh, how old are you, Maria?"

"Seventeen." Maria filled in, and Phoebe saw the surprise on Leo's face mirroring her own. She wasn't even out of high school yet, and The Elders expected her to take on all this?

Despite her reservations, Phoebe gave Maria her most friendly smile, the tears that she had been fighting moments ago all but forgotten. "Hi, I'm Phoebe."

Maria did not smile back, instead narrowing her eyes. "Look, the only reason that I came here was because this guy said that I was in danger. I have no desire be the third member of some long-ago established trio."

"It was only established three years ago." Phoebe countered, her smile tightening on her face. "Look, I understand how weird all of this is, trust me. But this is the way it is. If we all make an effort, maybe this will be a little bit easier for all of us."

Maria eyed her warily, then let out a resigned sigh. "Yeah, sure. But you guys do realize that I can't, like, _stay_ here right? I mean, I have a life in Roswell already."

Leo spoke up. "We get that you can't just pack up and move into the Manor, and with my orbing, you should be able to live a mostly normal life. But your life won't be the same, that's what you have to realize. The things that the Charmed Ones deal with are life and death, so your priorities might have to shift a little. As for right now, we're not going to trap you here in San Francisco, but we do need to get through the basics. You've met Phoebe, but you'll need to meet Piper, and all three of you have to go stand behind the Book of Shadows at some point." At Maria's blank look, he added, "The Book of Shadows is is the Halliwell's spell book. It has information about mystical creatures and spells for vanquishing them, if needed. The three of you standing behind the book just cements the Power of Three as being whole again. It's kind of symbolic . . . it's hard to explain." He finished awkwardly.

"Woah Leo, talk about information overload. Even my brain is reeling, and I've heard all of this already." Phoebe broke in, a real smile curving across her face. She turned to Maria. "Look, there'll be plenty of time to explain the logistics later. You've taken in enough for one day." She looked meaningfully at Leo. "Why don't I just go find Piper and introduce to two of you?"

Maria caught Phoebe's look and turned to look at Leo, who was wearing a similarly nervous expression. "What?" She asked warily. "Is there something you guys aren't telling me? Cause I have to say, you don't exactly look excited to introduce me to your sister."

"Piper's just . . . dealing with some stuff right now. I mean, I guess we all are, but she's still a little wary about this whole situation. You know, you as the new Charmed One." Phoebe didn't add that she herself had doubts about Maria's capability to fight evil. The girl hardly needed to feel more out of place than she already did. "But I don't want you to get worked up about meeting her, so I'll just go find her and we can get the whole thing over with, okay?"

Maria still didn't look too anxious to meet Piper, but she nodded anyway. "Yeah, okay."

Phoebe shot Maria final, reassuring smile before turning to walk upstairs. Once she was out of Leo and Maria's sight, she let the smile fall from her face. Now all she had to do was tell Piper that the seventeen-year-old girl who was going to take their sister's place as a Charmed One was downstairs, waiting to meet her. _Yeah, that'll be easy._

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Well, there you go, the first part of what I intend to be an ongoing series. Tell me what you think: what you liked, what you didn't, what bored the pants off you. Any feedback that you have is much appreciated.


	2. Frozen

Aliens & Demons Pt.2: Frozen 

"Wow, this is amazing!" He smiled at her, a look of awe on his face. April grinned, and as she broke her concentration, the feather that had been suspended in the air floated harmlessly down.

"Are you really okay with it? I mean, most guys would be intimidated by the fact that their girlfriend is a witch." She bit her lip, thinking of all of the times that she had scared guys off showing them what she could do with her powers. But it just wasn't in her nature to keep something like that a secret. She always felt like an essential part of her was being kept back if she didn't tell, so now she made a point of telling guys soon after they started dating, even if that particular practice wasn't looked on so favorably by other Wiccans. Of course, she was telling him sooner than she told most guys, so it had been anybody's guess how he'd react, but she was thrilled with his enthusiasm.

"Oh, so you're my girlfriend now?" A flirtatious smirk crossed his face,but then he took on a more serious look. "Most guys don't know what they're missing, because from the moment I first saw you, I knew that we could have something great, and I knew that you were different from the other girls I've dated. Of course, I just thought it was because you were you." April blushed at this. "Look, the point is, I really like you, and I'm not going to be driven away by the fact that you're some sort of supergirl."

"Well, I'm not really a supergirl. All I can do is float a few pencils and things around, and I've been working at this for years. Trust me, I'm not that powerful even by mortal standards, much less supernatural ones."

"Stop being so humble, it's beneath you. You can do things that normal people can't, you should be proud of what you can do. No need for modesty." He said with a forcefulness that surprised her a bit.

"Uh…" April, who was by nature a modest person, became a little uneasy at his words. The uneasiness faded though, when he put a hand on her bicep. A pleasant tingle ran through her arm at his touch, and April was struck by how strong her feelings for this guy were after after such a short time. She looked up into his eyes and allowed him to lean down for a kiss.

At first, it was wonderful. Everything that she would have expected from a guy so gentle and friendly. But as the kiss lengthened, April began to feel colder than she should have in the warm New Mexico air this time of year. And yet there was not a hint of wind against her skin. The chill only increased as the kiss went on, until April almost wanted to stop the kiss and ask him if he felt it too. But she found that she couldn't; she was too drawn to him to pull away. As what seemed to be becoming something of an Arctic chill settled around her, a voice in the back of her head seemed to be screaming to her to stop the kiss. But she couldn't now, even with what she imagined to be frostbite nipping at her fingers and toes. It was all cold, except for her mouth. And even as she felt complete cold settle over her and her heart tire from the task of continuing to beat, all that she could think about was him.

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"Seventeen!" Piper stared at Phoebe, looking as shocked as Phoebe had felt when she first met Maria. "Feebs, we can't expose a seventeen year old to all this. How are we supposed to do our jobs with her around? We'll have to watch out for her all this time."

"Oh, so now being the Charmed Ones is our job? Just this morning, you wanted nothing to do with anything magical ever again." Phoebe shot back. At her sister's wounded expression, she sighed. "Look, I'm sorry Piper, but we didn't really have a choice about whether we want to be witches, and neither does she. I admit, I'm skeptical too, but what's hard for us to deal with is probably ten times harder for her. Right now, lets just focus on getting to know her. Like it or not, she's part of this now, and we've gotta make the best of it."

Piper rolled her eyes, but Phoebe could tell that she was giving in. "I never said that I wasn't going to be nice to her Phoebe. I went through that too, remember? I know how hard it is to accept. I just don't see why the Elders thought it would be a good idea to give a high schooler powers that it took even Prue three years to build up."

Phoebe opened her mouth to respond, but Piper was already walking out the door and heading downstairs, and Phoebe stopped for fear of being heard by Leo and Maria.

When she got back downstairs, Phoebe was relieved to see that Piper wasn't commenting on Maria's age. Instead, she simply greeted Maria and then reached over to hug Leo.

"Wait. Are you two, like, dating or something?" Maria asked, looking warily from Leo to Piper and back. Pheobe cracked a small smile at the look on Maria's face and the accompanying expressions of Piper and Leo.

"We're married actually." Piper said, smiling stiffly. There was an awkward pause in which Maria looked down in embarassment and Leo's gaze flashed from his wife to his new charge, sensing the tension. It was one of those moments where there seemed to be no reason for unease, but there it was.

"So, Maria, tell us about youreself. I don't think anyone but Leo even knows what state you live in yet." Phoebe cut in, coming up next to Piper in an effort dispel the uneasiness that had surrounded the group.

"New Mexico." Maria filled in, seeming greatful for the change in topic. "Roswell, actually."

"Ah, home of the little green men." Phoebe cracked. Maria's eyes narrowed suddenly, and Phoebe shifted feet under Maria's gaze. "Well, there goes my attempt at light humor."

"Ah . . . sorry." Maria said, not sounding very sorry at all. "Just, you know, living in Roswell, I hear a lot of alien jokes. Gets a little old, you know." She gave Phoebe a tight smile that told Phoebe that she wasn't getting the whole story, but she decided to let it go. After all, maybe her instincts were wrong. If she lived in an alien themed town, she'd probably get tired of all the alien references too. "I have a job there." Maria put in. My friend Liz and I are the waitresses at her dad's café."

"Really, a café?" Piper asked, perking up. "What's it like?"

"Piper used to manage a restaurant, and now she owns a club." Phoebe explained, glad to see that Piper and Maria had some potential common ground.

"Oh, cool." Maria said, seeming to relax a little as topic continued to shift away from the supernatural. _There will be time to talk about the witchy stuff later._ Phoebe reasoned. _Right now, we just have to work on getting to know each other._ "The Crashdown isn't anything special really, but it's actually pretty nice for a small town café. We have an alien theme and everything. You should see the uniforms we have to wear."

"They can't be too bad." Said Piper, who seemed to be warming up a bit to Maria's habit for hyperbole, at least enough to make Maria feel at ease.

"There are silver aporns. And antennae. _Antennae._" Maria reiterated the word with such drama that Phoebe couldn't help but smile. She shot a look to Piper, who threw back a little grin of her own. Okay, so Maria was a little immature, but her heart was in the right place. The rest would come to her over time. Hopefully.

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"Oh my God," Liz whispered, looking suddenly alert as her eyes scanned the back page of the 'Local' section of the paper.

"What is it?" Maria asked, setting a coffee pot down on the counter and coming to stand next to Liz.

"Remember April Marshall, my old babysitter?" Liz asked, and when she turned to look at Maria, there were tears glistening in her eyes. "She _froze_ to death last night."

"What?" Maria's face wrinkled into a frown as she read the article from over Liz's shoulder. "Wow, I'm sorry Lizzie. Wait, you said she froze? How exactly do you freeze to death in New Mexico?"

"I don't know." Liz admitted, scanning the article. "According to this, she wasn't even in the water or anything. She was found on her front porch, frostbitten from head to toe. How does that even happen? You don't think it's anything . . . uh, Czechoslovakian, do you?"

Maria wrapped an arm around Liz's shoulder, turning the possibility over in her mind. _It could be._ She thought. _Or what if it has something to do with that thing that Leo told me about, about demons trying to come after me?_ A knotsettled in her throat. _If that's true, it's sort of my fault that April died._ She realized, thinking back on all of the times that aliens had come to Roswell because of Michael, Max, and Isabel. _Do they feel like this whenever the Skins kill someone?_ She wondered. Of course, April's death could have been because of an alien, but maybe it wasn't coincidence that this had happened the day right after she had learned about her powers.

"Maria? Maria, are you even listening to me?" Liz asked, sounding a bit annoyed.

"Er, not really. Sorry Liz, I was just trying to think about what could have popsicled April like that. So what were you saying?"

"I was just thinking that we should tell Max and Michael and Isabel, you know, see if they know anything."

"Yeah, sure. Look, we've still got another half hour until the restaurant opens; why don't you go over to the Evans' house? I can watch the place until you get back."

"Thanks Maria. I don't want to overreact, but I knew her, you know?"

Maria gave Liz a sympathetic smile. "Don't worry Liz, I don't think you're overreacting at all. Even if she was some old lady over at the retirement home that we had never met before, it's not like it's every day that someone freezes to death around here." She watched Liz leave, still wearing her Crashdown uniform. Once she was sure that Liz was gone, she hurried to the back room. "Leo?" She called hesitantly, not used to the idea that she could call the guy's name and he'd appear standing next to her. But sure enough, he twinkled into existence right in front of her.

"Something wrong?" He asked.

"You know how you said that demons might be coming after me? Well, I think that one might be about to. A girl froze to death last night, Leo. Right on her front porch. I can count on one hand the number of times that someone has frozen to death around here, and all of those involved walk in freezers."

"Well, it sounds like something worth looking into. Why don't I orb you over to the manor and help you look through the Book?"

"I can't right now. I got Liz out of the way for a few minutes so that I could talk to you, but the café will be opening in less than an hour and Liz will absolutely kill me if I leave right before we open. Besides, dead girl was her babysitter when she was little, and I don't want to freak her out any more by not being here when she gets back.

"Okay, I'll ask the sisters to look into it then. But I really should orb you over there sometime soon, if for no other reason then to cement your status as a Charmed One."

"Yeah, yeah, get back to me on that once you've identified Mr. Freeze." Maria said, waving her hand at Leo. "Or Mrs. Freeze, I guess. Wait, can demons be female?"

Leo smiled. "Demons have genders just like humans do." He replied. "Anyway, I'd better get to the manor."

"Kay. Bye Leo." Maria said, heading back to the front of the diner as Leo disappeared in a swirl of blue sparkles. But even with Leo gone, Maria couldn't get the demon off her mind. She thought of what it would be like to freeze to death, and she shivered involuntarily, reminding herself to make Michael go into the walk-in freezer the next time she needed something from it.


	3. Witch Hunt

Aliens & Demons Pt.3: Witch Hunt Author's Note: I use a foreign language in this chapter and make the claim that it is Portugese. As a disclaimer, I would like to state that I don't claim to know any Portugese myself, nor do I know anyone who knows Portugese. The only resource that I had was the Google Translator. If I have butchered the language in some way, I apologize. 

"_Hey Lizzie, I think it's your bedtime." Liz looked down at the ground, and when she raised her head, she was wearing the most mournful puppy-dog face she could muster. April just laughed. "Don't think you can use that face on me missy. I know all your little tricks, and they're not going to work on me this time."_

_With a sigh so filled with melancholy that you would think her best friend had just died, Liz nodded her head. "Okay. I just wanted to play one more game of Clue, but if you say that bedtime has to be right now. . ."_

_April paused to consider, until finally she rolled her eyes and opened up the game board once again. "All right, but after this game, you will go straight to bed with no problem, right?"_

"_Of course!" Liz promised, her somber mood immediately dissipating. _

"_All right, crafty child, I assume you want to be Professor Plum again?"_

"I'm always Professor Plum." Liz murmured absently as the memory came to an end. Playing Clue was one of the clearest memories that she had of her time with April. She hadn't seen her in a few years now, but her face was still clear in her mind, a light freckled face framed by auburn curls. _I should have talked to her more often._ She chided herself, remembering how she had lost touch with April once she had entered high school. _I can't even remember the last time I called her up._ She felt tears pricking at her eyes and brushed at her eyes absently, trying to stop herself from crying before she looked like a complete mess. Letting Maria see that she was upset was okay, but if she showed up at Max's house all blotchy-faced, it would just make an already awkward situation that much more difficult to get through. She was beginning to wonder why she hadn't just asked Maria to go talk to the Evans' instead.

When she reached the house, she just stood at the door for a moment, blinking her eyes quickly in the hope that they looked clear and alert. She knocked and looked down at the welcome mat as she waited for the door to open.

"Liz? What are you doing here so early?" Liz could tell from the voice that it wasn't Max who had answered the door and looked up to see Isabel glaring at her, still clad in her red silk pajamas.

"Do you always answer the door like that?" Liz asked, momentarily forgetting her weirdness about the Max situation and April's strange death to size up her friend's disheveled attire.

"Well, I glanced at the porch from the window to make sure you weren't someone really important. Not that- well, you know what I mean. Hey Liz, are you all right? You look kind of upset."

"I'm that obvious?"

"Yeah, pretty much." Isabel confirmed. "What happened?"

"This girl who used to babysit me died last night." Liz admitted, feeling her emotions well up again when she caught the sympathetic look on Isabel's face.

"Wow Liz, I'm sorry to hear that. Did you want to talk to Max? My mom realized this morning that we didn't have any eggs, so she made Max drive to the store for some, but he should be home soon if you want to wait for him."

Liz quickly shook her head, almost relieved that he wasn't home. "The Crashdown is going to open soon. Maria's there, but I should still probably get back. I just wanted to ask you guys something."

"All right, shoot." Isabel motioned for her to come inside, and she sat down on the couch and pulled a blanket over her legs. Liz remained standing, shifting from foot to foot as she decided how to pose her question.

"April- the babysitter I mentioned- she froze to death on her own front porch."

"Wow, really? Where does she live?"

"About three miles away from here."

"Wait, she lives in Roswell? But that's impossible. It wasn't even cold last night. There's no way that she could have been frozen by the cold last night."

"Exactly. It never gets cold enough around here for someone to freeze just by staying outside to long, and unless there was some drastic change in temperature while I was sleeping, last night was no exception. Which is why Maria and I were thinking that it might be something, with your, uh, _origins_."

"I guess it's possible, but I don't know anything about it, if that's what you're asking. I have a date tonight to get ready for, but I can try to talk to Max and Michael and see if they have any ideas. I have to warn you though, they'll probably know just as little as I do. Sorry Liz, but we don't know much more about this stuff than you do."

"That's all right. Thanks anyway Iz." Liz opened the Evans' door and stepped back onto the porch.

"Good luck Liz. Tell me if you learn anything more."

"I will. Bye." Liz closed the door behind her and sighed, an image of April's skin in a shade of pale blue flashing through her mind. _I have to find out what did this._ She resolved. _And sooner, rather than later._

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"Liz! There you are. How did it go?" Maria asked, hurrying up to her. Part of her hoped that Liz would tell her about some weird alien thing that Max and Isabel knew about that could cause random drops in body temp, just so that she could let go of the worry that this whole thing was somehow her fault.

"Well, Isabel doesn't know anything at all. She says that she'll ask the others, but she's not very optimistic. Neither am I, for that matter. Even if it is something alien, what are the odds that Max or Michael would know about it? Until this year, they didn't even know what planet they were from."

"Too true." Maria said, sighing. "Look, I'll try to check it out too, but we might just have to accept the fact that we'll never know why April died the way that she did."

"Yeah." Liz said. Then she paused and turned to look at Maria curiously. "Wait, how exactly are you going to check it out?" Her tone turned joking. "What, do you have alien sources now?"

"Oh yeah." Maria replied, trying not to reveal her horror at her own slip-up with a smirk. "Didn't I tell you, Liz? I joined the SAIO, or Secret Alien Intelligence Organization to civilians like you, and now I have contacts everywhere." Liz laughed out loud. "Come on Liz, I just meant that I'd chat people up around town, see if they've noticed anything suspicious lately."

Liz seemed to accept this as a typical wacky Maria move, so she just gave Maria a final nod and a grin and went to the front of the restaurant to seat the customers who had begun trickling in. When Liz had turned her back, Maria allowed her smile to fade away. _Real smooth. I've had secret powers for less than 24 hours, and I've already almost blown my secret._

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"Does she know anything about what it looks like? Horns, claws, suspicious moles?" Phoebe asked, paging through the book, glancing at each page briefly before moving on.

"I told you, she didn't even know for sure that a demon was responsible. All she knew was that some girl froze to death suspiciously, and with the possibility of things coming after her, she suspected something demonic."

"Well, it's not like there are always neat assignments for which demons have which powers, Leo. I mean, this could be anything from a warlock playing around with stolen witch powers to the Source himself."

"I know that. But she was worried, and I thought it would be good if she could experience how the whole process works."

"If she's supposed to be experiencing the process, then why am I the one who's taking time off job-hunting to look through the book?" Phoebe asked, looking up at Leo.

"She was supposed to be watching the café that she works at. I can't just ask her to put aside her responsibilites to follow a hunch."

"What about when we actually have to vanquish a demon? Will we be allowed to yank her away from her precious duties then?"

"Of course vanquishing demons has to come first for her. But there's no immediate threat as far as we know. We can't ask her to slack off on her duties in Roswell all the time when it's not important. I would lose all credibility. If we only make her come here when she's truly needed, she won't hesitate when it's something important." Leo explained. He paused and caught Phoebe's gaze. "Why are you so critical of Maria all of a sudden? I thought that you liked her."

"I do like her, you know that. It's just. . . she's too young to take this on. She's worrying about homework and getting to work on time, not what kind of demon would have the ability to freeze people to death. And there's nothing wrong with that. It's what a teenager should be dealing with. But none of that is as important as what we do as Charmed Ones. I just think putting the fate of the Power of Three in the hands of someone who doesn't understand what is at stake is a mistake."

"I know. But we didn't decide who got Prue's powers, the Elders did. I'm sure that they had a good reason for bestowing the powers on Maria as opposed to the thousands of other candidates out there. She's not even a witch. There must be something special about her that we have yet to see."

"I guess. I just hope that waiting for that something to appear doesn't cost us our lives." Phoebe said, turning back to the book and looking down. When she saw what page the book was open to, her eyes widened. "This wasn't the page I stopped on," she remarked with confusion. Then, slowly, comprehension dawned. _Thanks Grams,_ she thought, taking a closer look at the page. "Hey Leo, I think we might have hit paydirt."

"What is it?"

"Draksyl, also known as _Cavalheiro do Beijo Gelado_, or Gentleman of the Icy Kiss, in eastern Portugal, where he is believed to have originated." Phoebe said, panning the text. "It says here that he kills his victims by kissing them and sucking them of all their body heat. He is known for his humanesque appearance and his ability to charm women as well as rob them of their life force and their powers after he has killed them."

"Clearly not someone to be messed with." Leo commented. "So, any idea why he might to break up the Charmed Ones?"

"Doesn't everyone?" Phoebe pointed out. "Aside from that, he feeds off the energy in a witch's powers. He doesn't actually use the powers, they just give him strength. I imagine taking the power of the three powerful witches would give him enough power to last for quite a while or maybe allow him to gain control of something in particular."

"But that doesn't explain why he would want to hurt this girl. Why not go straight for Maria?"

Phoebe shrugged. "According to the Book, he only goes after witches. Unless that girl _was_ a witch. . ." She paused to think the prospect over. "You know, Maria isn't that powerful yet. She's not even officially a Charmed One, as you so love pointing out. Maybe he knows that the third Charmed One is in Roswell, but he can't sense that Maria is the witch that he's looking for yet. Anyway, it doesn't sound like he's got many qualms with killing innocent witches. Maybe he's just going to kill any witch he can until he gets to the right one."

"It's kind of a leap." He said skeptically. "Still, good thinking Phoebe. I'm not sure if what you're guessing is true, but it would make sense, given the circumstances. If you are right though, and Draksyl is trying to hunt Maria down through a process of elimination, I should warn Maria. I can't imagine that Roswell has very many witches in it. He probably won't have to hunt down very many witches before he gets to Maria."

"Okay, go. I'll work on finding a way to vanquish this guy," she said, already so immersed in her own thoughts that she barely noticed when Leo orbed out.

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"Excuse me, waitress?" Maria turned to see where the voice was coming from and was surprised to see Leo, who shot her a grin when she noticed him.

She walked over to him. "Cute." She muttered when she got close enough. "Come on." She led him to the back room, ignoring the puzzled look Liz gave her as she dragged Leo out of the main room. _I'll think of something to tell her later._ She thought, storing the thought away. Once she had established to her own satisfaction that they were alone, she turned to him. "Okay, did you find out anything?"

"It's a demon named Draksyl. He looks human, and he uses his appearance to lure witches to him. When he kisses them, he drains them of their body heat and then takes their powers."

"Well, what did he want with April? Why not just go straight for me?"

"Maybe she was a witch." Leo shrugged. "Honestly, we're not sure, but Phoebe thinks that since you're not officially a Charmed One yet, he can't differentiate between you and other witches, so he's picking off all of the witches in Roswell until he finds the right one."

"Wait, _all_ of the witches? How many are there?"

"Who knows? Look, it's just a theory right now, so don't start taking it too seriously just yet. I just wanted to make sure that you knew his MO so that you could avoid him. Anyway, I should get back and see how Phoebe's doing on a vanquish for this guy. I'll come back if anything new develops." Before Maria could say anything, he orbed out.

"So all I have to do is avoid handsome guys who want to kiss me." Maria muttered. "At least _that_ part shouldn't be too difficult."


	4. The Maria Problem

Aliens & Demons Pt.4: The Maria Problem 

"Maria, do you have some sort of brain damage?" As soon as Maria walked out of the back room, she was confronted by Liz, who was staring at her friend with wide-eyed confusion.

"What?" Maria asked absently.

"That guy! He looked about twice your age. Besides, I thought that you were trying to work things out with Michael."

"Wait… you think that I- that he and I- that we were making out back there or something?" Maria almost laughed in Liz's face, but judging by the serious look in her friend's eyes, decided that wouldn't be the right way to set her friend straight. "No way Liz. I like my men older, but he's just a bit past my age limit." _Yeah, by about 80 years._ She added inwardly. "Besides, the guy is married. No way do I want to get involved in any of that 'other woman' crap."

"Then what were you talking about?" Liz asked, her expression almost immediately morphing from accusing to curious. Normally, Maria didn't think that Liz would so easily get off the offensive in a situation like this, but with April's death fresh in her mind, Liz seemed more than eager than usual to avoid a fight.

"He wanted some directions out of this nothing town, that's all. I brought him to the back to find one of those maps of New Mexico that you're dad has all over the place."

"Then how do you know that he's married?" Liz asked, speaking carefully so as not to sound accusing.

"Oh for Pete's sake, he mentioned it when we were talking. He said that he was trying to get to San Francisco, where he and his wife just bought a house." Maria said, the lies rolling off of her tongue with surprising ease.

Liz nodded, accepting Maria's words. She almost wished that Liz would see through her fibbing, force her to reveal what was up, friend to friend, as she had forced Liz to talk after Max had saved her at the Crashdown. But Liz didn't, she just shot Maria a small smile as she took an order to one of the tables, leaving Maria to her own guilty thoughts.

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This would be it. He was sure of it. The first girl had been a disappointment, a waste of time. She had hardly even had enough power in her to be worth the kill, but he knew from experience that with witches, it was better to be safe than sorry.

He'd been upset at first, being impatient as he was. But tonight would make up for it. He had found her, he was sure of it. This one was powerful; he could tell from her eyes that she had the strength of a Charmed One. And after tonight, that power and strength would be his.

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"Hey Phoebe. Have you found out who Maria's freezing demon is yet?" Piper asked, entering the attic.

"I think so. Here, look at this." Phoebe replied, moving away from the podium where the Book of Shadows lay to let Piper read the entry on Draksyl. When she had finished, Piper looked up.

"We'll need the Power of Three to vanquish this guy." She said, brow furrowing.

Phoebe heard the inference in her sister's words. "You don't think Maria can handle it?"

"Do you? Be honest Phoebe. Is it really wise to put the lives of innocents into the hands of a girl who's only been practicing magic for two days?"

"We were taking out warlocks almost as soon as we got our powers." Phoebe pointed out.

"Come on Feebs, don't play the devil's advocate with me. I know that you're worried about her too."

"Okay, fine, I'll admit it. Having her as a Charmed One makes me nervous. In fact, she's just about the last person I would have chosen. But there's nothing we can do about it now. It wasn't our choice, and now we'll just have to trust that the Elders knew what they were doing when they gave her Prue's power."

"I guess." Piper said, still not sounding very confident. "Look, I've got to go to P3 and make sure that everything's set up for tonight. Call me on the cell when you've got a vanquish for this guy."

"Bye Piper." Phoebe watched Piper leave, then picked up her pen and paper to start writing a spell. But her thoughts remained focused on the Maria problem. Leo's and Piper's words replayed inside her head. _We didn't decide who got Prue's powers, the Elders did…_ _Is it really wise to put the lives of innocents into the hands of a girl who's only been practicing magic for two days?…_ _There must be something special about her that we have yet to see. _

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The day had gone by much too slowly for Maria's taste. Working at the Crashdown was never a thrill, but today had been horrible. Every time the door had opened, she feared it was Draksyl, coming to finish her off. And how exactly was she supposed to fight him? She had spent the day trying to move silverware and empty plates with her mind when she thought no one was looking, but she hadn't been very successful. Once, while cleaning a particularly messy table, she had sent one of the glasses careening onto the floor, but that would hardly help her if Draksyl decided that he wanted to walk up to her and kiss the life right out of her. She had to get control of it somehow.

It was 4:00 now, and the café was in a lull between lunch and dinner. Mr. Parker had just hired a new waitress, a twenty-something named Michelle who couldn't get to work until 7:00, so Maria still had three more hours to work, but with the current lack of customers in the café, she was almost tempted to skip out early. She was busy reminding herself that Liz didn't need any extra stress today when Isabel walked in.

"Isabel! Friend! Good, loyal, kind friend!" Maria exclaimed, hurrying up to her.

"What do you want Maria?" Isabel's tone was serious, but a glimmer in her eyes betrayed amusement.

"Could you cover for me until 7:00? I've got something I need to… check up on at home." In truth, she just wanted to get out of the café, but she would probably end up checking up with Leo at some point as well.

"Sorry Maria. Much as I would love to don that uniform again, I can't. I have a date tonight. I only came by to get my history book back from Liz."

"_Liz_ lost her history book?" Maria couldn't keep the disbelief out of her voice. Liz rarely lost things, except for that one time that her journal had gone missing, and since then she had been more careful than ever.

"She lent it to Andrea Russell." Isabel replied.

"Ohhh." Maria nodded her understanding. Andrea was nice, but she was also a bit flaky, and she was famous for 'forgetting' to return things to people. Personally, Maria thought that Andrea just didn't want to cough up the money to buy her own books, but Liz refused to believe that Andrea was doing it on purpose. Still, if someone was known for losing things, why would you lend them something you needed on a daily basis? "Liz is on her break and she's off getting something for her dad, but I think I'll be able to find it myself. Yell if we get a customer."

Maria walked into the back room and gave the room a quick scan to make sure the book wasn't there. When she saw that it wasn't, she hurried up to Liz's room. She spotted the book immediately, sitting on Liz's bed. Next to it was a notebook. At first, she thought it was just history notes, but then she spotted the word 'Skins' written on one line, followed by a bunch of question marks. Picking up the notebook and glancing at the rest of the page, she saw that the page was a list of all things alien, some of which had sidenotes and theories next to them in red pen. It took Maria a moment to realize that the notes were speculation on April's death.

The realization made Maria sick to her stomach. She knew that none of these things had killed April, that it was actually something completely different, something that Liz had no idea even existed. Liz was never going to find the answers that she was looking for from this. For the first time, Maria realized fully that she had an awareness of a whole other world that her friends didn't even know existed. At least when she had learned the truth about Isabel, Michael and Max, she'd had Liz to confide in. Now the only people she could talk to were strangers who thought she was just some stupid teenager who couldn't handle the supernatural. Oh, she could handle it all right. She just didn't know if she could handle it alone.

"Maria, you have a customer!" Isabel called up the stairs, jarring Maria out of her thoughts. She threw the notebook back down on the bed and grabbed the history book, then hurried back downstairs.

"Here Isabel." she said when she reached the bottom of the steps, where Isabel was waiting. "Have fun on your date. Where are you going?"

"This place a few miles out of Roswell called _Out of Italy._ It's supposed to be really nice."

"Does Alex know?"

"Alex and I aren't together." Isabel reminded Maria. "Besides, I'm just going out with this guy for fun. I don't need a serious relationship."

"Whatever you say Isabel." Maria smiled and followed Isabel to the door. "Go off, have your fun. But while you're off eating semi-authentic Italian food and having sparkling dinner conversation, remember me stuck at the Crashdown serving mediocre food to ungreatful customers."

Isabel laughed. "Fat chance. See you later Maria." Once she had walked out the door. Maria turned around, facing the customer still waiting at the front.

"Okay, what can I get you?"


	5. Race to the Finish

Aliens & Demons Pt.5: Race to the Finish 

"How are you doing?" Leo asked. Phoebe looked up.

"I've got a spell written. Not that it'll be much use if we can't find our demon friend." Phoebe sighed.

"Is there anything I can do?"

"Yeah. Piper's on her way here, but I think it's time we brought Maria into this. Can you go get her?"

"Sure. I'll be back in a minute." Leo orbed out, leaving Phoebe alone again, much to her annoyance. In the past few hours, she'd had time to think about the events of the past two days, and the places that her thoughts had taken her had turned her into a bundle of pure nervous energy. It had occurred to her that everything that was happening right now was falling onto her shoulders. From figuring out where Maria fit into their lives as Charmed Ones, to learning about the demon of the week and coming up with a way to destroy it, she had been taking it all on.

And from her thoughts, a worry had begun to form. _What if this is how it's going to be from now on?_ When Prue was alive, the sisters had dealt with problems as they arose, with different sisters taking on the brunt of the responsibility whenever they could. But it occurred to Phoebe that now she was the Charmed One who was most available to do the grunt work for the three of them. Maria had school and work and she didn't even live with them, which meant that she wasn't readily available to page through the book looking for vanquishes or whip up potions unless there was an immediate threat. And Piper had a business to take care of, a business that she needed to keep unless the girls found another way of getting cash. Phoebe was the only one without any responsibilities except for her witchy duties and her ex-demon boyfriend.

"Okay, lets get this show on the road." A voice behind Phoebe brought her back into the present. She turned and gave Piper a tired smile. "Where's Leo?"

"He went to go get Maria." Phoebe explained.

"Are you sure that it's time to-"

"Piper, don't. Not now." Phoebe interjected. "We can talk about our Maria-related worries later. Right now we need to concentrate on getting our demon vanquished."

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"You're looking beautiful." He said, sizing up the girl in front of him. She really was lovely. A beautiful blonde. It was too bad he would have to kill her soon.

"Thanks. Now can we get going?" She asked, nudging him lightly toward a table. She was impatient. How unfortunate for her. It would only make the end of the night, and her death, come faster. Of course, she didn't know that. How could she? He always played things very carefully, so that his target wouldn't have any suspicions about him until it was too late. The girl last night had even revealed her powers to him. He couldn't hope for that kind of luck again tonight, but at this point it didn't really matter. If she was the Charmed One he was looking for- and she was- she wasn't yet experienced enough in her powers to fight him off, no matter what kind of power she posessed.

Playing the gentleman role, he let her walk in front of him. The table that she had been pushing him toward was a small booth in the corner of the room. "Great choice. Exactly the kind of atmosphere I wanted" He said, sitting down. "You know, this probably sounds cliche, but I'm feeling a real connection toward you, Isabel."

She cracked a smile and sat down across from him. "That does sound cliché, but I'm flattered enough that I'll let it slide this once. Any more corny lines though, and I may have to take a _very_ long bathroom break, if you catch my drift. So don't push your luck."

"Wouldn't dream of it." He said with a grin.

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"Okay, so how are we planning to find…" Piper turned to glance at the entry in the book, "Draksyl?"

"Well, I'm not exactly sure. I was thinking of a locator spell, but for that we would probably need something of Draksyl's, so I'm not sure how-"

"Wait." Piper cut Phoebe off and set her eyes on the entrance to the attic. "Did you hear something?" After a few moments of silence, it became clear that Piper was right. The sound of footsteps ascending the stairs could be heard, approaching slowly. The sisters stood stock still as they waited for whoever it was to appear, Piper with her hands at the ready to blow something up.

"Phoebe?" The girls nearly jumped out of their skin at the sound of the voice. Phoebe sighed, relieved.

"We're up here Cole." She called. Moments later, Cole's face appeared at the attic's entrance.

"Hi honey, I'm home." He quipped.

Phoebe left her place beside Piper to greet Cole with a kiss. "I'm glad you're back. A lot has happened since you left."

"Oh? Like what?" Cole asked, putting an arm around her shoulders. Phoebe exchanged a glance with Piper, wondering how to explain everything that had happened in the last 48 hours, but she was saved from replying when Leo orbed in, Maria at his side. Unsurprisingly, Maria started talking immediately.

"This had better be good, because Liz is going to roast me when she finds out that I just closed the Crashdown and left hours before my shift was over. Not to mention that I practically threw a paying customer out of the restaurant. And Michael will probably be mad too when he gets there for his shift, late as usual of course, and- who is he?" Maria had just noticed Cole's presence in the attic.

"More importantly, who is she?" Cole shot back, looking more than a little surprised.

"Cole, meet Maria. Maria, this is Cole, my boyfriend." Phoebe said, slightly overwhelmed as she realized how much explaining there was to do.

"Hi Maria." He said, giving her a polite smile. Then he turned his head to Phoebe and spoke to her in a whisper. "Would you mind telling me what the hyperactive teenager is doing in the attic?"

"Long story. I'll explain later." Phoebe whispered back.

"Okay people, in case you've forgotten, we have a demon to vanquish. Now lets just find a way to get this done so that another innocent doesn't get killed." Piper said, drawing the attention of everyone in the room.

"What demon?" Cole asked Phoebe.

"This guy who wants to kill Maria."

"Oh, so Maria's your innocent."

"Well, not exactly. But we are trying to save her."

"Uh . . . all right. That makes perfect sense. Great explanation Feebs" Cole muttered.

"Could you two stop conferencing with each other and join the program?" Piper cut in, an edge of irritation lining her voice. "I doubt Draksyl's sitting back right now, just waiting to be vanquished."

"Did you say Draksyl?" Cole asked, speaking loudly enough that the whole group could hear him this time.

"Yes. Why?" Piper barked. Her words came out sounding annoyed, but Phoebe knew that it was more nerves than anger at Cole.

"I used to do business with him, before- you know." Maria's eyes widened and began to say something, but Leo shushed her. Her mouth closed, but crossed her arms over her stomach protectively and moved farther away from Cole as if afraid that he might lash out at her at any moment.

Piper stared at him for a moment before speaking. "Okay, no need to elaborate on that statement. You wouldn't have anything of his that we could use for a locator spell, would you?"

Cole paused, then pulled a keychain out of his pocket.

"A keychain?" Piper asked, quirking an eyebrow. "Do demons even use keys?"

"It's enchanted." Cole explained, squeezing it in his hand for a moment and then opening his hand to reveal a small vial full of blood. "Our working relationship didn't end so well."

Carefully, Piper took the vial. "So, what, you fought him and took some of his blood as a souvenier? Ew."

Cole shrugged. "Only a drop of it. The rest is from other demons. Still, his is mixed in there, so it should do the job."

Maria looked horrified, and Phoebe sympathized. Even knowing that Cole used to be evil, she still got disturbed when he talked about the stuff he used to do.

Piper looked pretty repulsed as well, and she shook her head slightly, as if to force the image of Belthazor collecting the blood of his enemies out of her mind. "If the blood of a bunch of demons is in here, won't doing a locator spell on it show us where all these demons are?" She pointed out.

"The other demons whose blood is in there didn't live very long afterwords." He said simply.

Wisely, Phoebe thought, Piper chose not to respond to this. Instead, she began silently gathering the ingredients for the spell.

"Can I talk now Leo, or am I just supposed to continue pretending that this isn't all majorly disturbing?" Maria kept her voice level, but Phoebe thought she heard an edge of hysteria in it.

"Maria, I'm sorry, but I don't have time to go into a detailed explanation of Cole's past right now." Leo said, clearly trying to hold back the impatience that was creeping into his voice. "All that matters is that he's good now." If not for the circumstances, Phoebe would have smirked at that; Leo was normally one of the last people to jump to Cole's defense, and Phoebe was willing to bet that that was the only time he was ever going to employ the 'Cole's good now' argument.

"Hello? The guy just openly admitted that he used to collect the blood of his old business partners, so you'll have to forgive me for not being overjoyed at the fact that he's one of our allies now."

"Most of his old business partners were demons." Phoebe pointed out, a bit put off.

"Exactly! You know, I haven't been involved with you guys for very long, but I would think that there are better ways of doing good than making friends with psychopaths."

"Hey, standing right here." Cole broke in. "And you know, these girls are trying to protect you, so you might be a little bit more greatful."

"Cole. . ." Phoebe paused, trying to decide how to tactfully tell him to stay out it until he knew everything that was going on.

"Greatful!" Maria's eyes widened, and the volume of her voice went up a few decibels. "I don't believe you people! You come to me, you-"

"All right children, break it up." Piper cut in. "Were ready to start. Lets save the hysterics for later." She laid a new map of Roswell on the table and held the newly enchanted vial just over it. "Come out, come out, wherever you are," she muttered. Slowly, the vial began to pull toward one of the outer edges until it finally rested just inside the map's borders. Piper's eyebrows wrinkled in confusion as she scanned the place on the map where the vial had dropped down. "There's nothing there. Maria, look at this. Is there even anything out that far?"

Maria moved in closer to get a better look. "Not really. I mean, there are the usual gas stations and weigh stations, but that's pretty much it." She looked around helplessly for a moment. "Wait." She turned back to the map, a look of realization in her eye. "There's a restaurant, _Out of Italy_. It's supposed to be a nice place, one of the best around. Although most of us are just grateful for any place without some stupid alien theme. I remember I was just talking to someone about it tonight, but I can't remember. . . oh God." Maria's head snapped up, a look of horror on her face that even Phoebe couldn't interpret. "Isabel."


	6. Date with the Demon

Aliens & Demons Pt. 6: Date with the Demon 

"Will you be wanting any dessert tonight?" the waiter asked.

"What do you think Isabel? Do you want dessert?" Draksyl asked.

"Dessert would be lovely. How about tiramisu?" Inwardly, Draksyl sighed. Of course, he had to keep up the appearance of a gentleman if he was going to keep Isabel's trust, and that meant not hurrying them out of the restaurant, but it wasn't like he had all the time in the world here. His window was closing. If he didn't act now, he could end up dealing with a re-unified Power of Three, and that was the last thing he wanted. Kill the witch, get the power, get out. Easy as pie. He would just have to be patient for a few more minutes while his date finished what would be her last meal.

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"What?" Piper finally asked, breaking the silence that had descended on the group.

"My friend Isabel. She had a date tonight at _Out of Italy_. Some guy she'd just met recently, from what I gathered."

"So you think . . . what, that your friend is on a date with our demon?" Phoebe asked skeptically.

"Well, it fits, doesn't it?"

"But why? Is she a witch?"

"No, but- well, it's difficult to explain."

"Try." Piper suggested.

"I can't." After saying this, Maria fliched, as though embarassed by her own words.

"Okay, look." Piper said. "I don't have any problem with you keeping little secrets for your friends, but if it starts conflicting with our ability to do our job, we have to know."

"I'm sorry." Maria shrugged.

There was a tense moment while Piper glared at Maria and Maria stared at the ground. Finally, Leo spoke. "Why don't we save this conversation for later? Right now, lets focus on getting to Draksyl before he kills Isabel or whoever it is that he's after tonight." There was a slight murmuring, which Leo took as assent. "All right then. First off, Maria, if you're going to do this, you have to commit all the way. If you're not completely with us, you'll be susceptible. We all will."

After a hesitation, Maria nodded. "I'm in."

"Hold on," Leo said, motioning for Phoebe to come stand next to Piper. "Now Maria, come over here." he said. He paused for a moment, confidant that the girls would know what to do, and sure enough, Piper and Phoebe held hands and huddled around the book, letting Maria follow their lead.

The air itself seemed to crackle. A soft orb of blue-white light formed above the girls' heads, bathing the room in mystical light. Cole watched but didn't speak; even he seemed afraid to break the magic of the moment. Leo observed the girls' faces as they felt their powers coming together, strengthening them. Maria in particular looked awed and amusingly speechless, and even when they split apart and the orb faded from above their heads, she had a dazed look on her face.

"That was quite a . . . thing." She finally said.

The corners of Phoebe's mouth turned up into a small smile. "That about describes it."

"Okay then." Cole broke in. "Are we ready to do this?"

"Is he coming with us?" Maria asked, shooting a wary glance Cole's way.

Leo paused, scanning the other faces in the room. Maria's expression was one of repulsion mingled with fear and Piper and Phoebe were passing silent, awkward looks back and forth.

"Apparently, I'm not." Cole replied, seeing the dubious expressions on the others' faces. "I'll just be leaving then. I'll talk to you tomorrow Feebs."

"Cole, wait." Phoebe took a step forward, but Leo intercepted her before she could follow Cole any further.

"Do it later." Leo advised, looking Phoebe in the eye.

"Right, the demon we have to vanquish. I had forgotten about him with all the hostility we've got going on right here at home." At this, Phoebe made a point to look straight at Maria, who crossed her arms and looked away.

"Well okay then, now that we're all friends, lets take this fun-filled show on the road." Piper suggested, picking up the slip of paper holding the vanquishing spell that Phoebe had written and coming up next to Leo to grab his arm.

Ignoring the tension still present in the room, Leo put his hands on Maria's and Phoebe's shoulders and focused on transporting the girls to a small restaurant on the outskirts of Roswell, barely noticing as he and his small group were engulfed in a shower of blue sparks.

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_Omigod, omigod, **Oh My God**_. Maria tried to ignore the voice in the back of her brain singing the same panicked phrase over and over again as she, Piper, Phoebe and Leo reformed in the _Out of Italy_ parking lot. After taking a moment to reorient herself, Maria spotted a familiar green Jeep. "She's here." Maria whispered.

"How do you know? And why are you whispering?" Piper asked, arching a brow.

Maria blinked, embarrassed, then replied at a normal volume. "Her brother's car is over there." Maria turned to look at Leo. "That's good, right? I mean, that they're still here."

"Probably. It's possible that he would drain her here, but most likely, he's planning to take her somewhere more remote if he's going to kill her."

"So do we just wait for them to come out?" Maria asked.

"That would be my vote." Phoebe said. "I don't know about you, but I'm not real anxious to confront the guy in the middle of a crowded restaurant."

"Okay then. We'll wait." Piper said.

"Mm, well, I have a hunch it's not going to be a very long wait." Maria said.

"Why's that?" Leo asked.

"Because I see them right over there." Maria nodded toward the side of the restaurant, where Isabel was walking hand in hand with some guy, presumably Draksyl.

Phoebe's eyes widened looking at the pair. "Wow, I wish every baddie we fought was this good-looking."

Piper rolled her eyes. "What about Jeremy? Rex? Cole, the early years?"

Phoebe paused. "Good point."

"All right, everybody ready?" Piper asked, keeping her eyes on Draksyl and Isabel as they crossed the parking lot.

"Yep." Phoebe chirped.

"I think so." Maria said. Then, casting her eyes again on the demon who had his arm wrapped around one of her closest friends' shoulders, she nodded. "Yeah, I'm ready."

"Good." With that, Piper flung her arms out in front of her, and milliseconds later, everything and everyone except for Draksyl had gone completely still. Maria took a moment to take in the strangeness of it- her first thought that it was like moving through a painting- but was snapped out of her amazement when she realized that Draksyl had just spotted them.

"Um, I think he sees us." she whispered.

Piper and Phoebe looked worried, which wasn't a good sign in Maria's book. "Piper, why didn't he freeze?" Phoebe asked.

"How should I know? It's not like these powers come with an instruction manual." Piper said.

"Witches!" Draksyl's voice cut through the air as he began running toward them.

"Get the spell, get the spell, _Piper, get the spell!" _Phoebe kept her eyes on the demon, her voice betraying a hint of panic.

"Got it." Piper held out the creased piece of paper and Maria felt a hand- she wasn't sure if it was Piper's or Phoebe's- gripping hers. "Now!" Piper yelled, and Maria heard more than felt herself reading the words off the page, trying to focus her mind on getting every word out and ignore the very angry looking demon fast approaching.

_Spirits in peace, spirits amiss,_

_Claim this demon of the draining kiss,_

_We banish him from this mortal plane,_

_And end his deadly demonic reign._

Maria looked up. Draksyl had stopped barreling toward them and now looked distinctly worried, but he didn't look like he was about to burst into flames.

"Again!" Phoebe yelled. "We need more power!"

_More power._ Maria closed her eyes, the words of the spell imprinted in her brain, throbbing in her head. She took a deep breath and felt a burst of something, almost like adrenaline but stronger and strangely calming. When she heard Phoebe and Piper restart the spell, she joined in more readily than before, focusing on the power flowing through her and through the hand that she was holding rather than the words.

_Spirits in peace, spirits amiss,_

_Claim this demon of the draining kiss,_

_We banish him from this mortal plane,_

_And end his deadly demonic reign!_

This time, Maria knew that it had worked even before she opened her eyes, and when she did, sure enough, Draksyl was consumed in flame. She let out a breath she had forgotten she was holding and turned to look at Piper and Phoebe. Although she was still reeling from the experience, they seemed relaxed again, as if they hadn't just gone about destroying a soul-sucking demon.

"You know Phoebe, that spell wasn't one of your best." Piper said.

"Hey, it worked, didn't it?" Phoebe shot back.

"Barely."

"Um, you guys?" Maria cut in when she had found her voice again. "Shouldn't you like, work your mojo thingy again and bring all of these people back to normal?"

Piper surveyed the lot. "Oh, right. Before I do though, are we going to come up with a cover story for Maria's friend over there or just leave her to figure out on her own why her date suddenly disappeared?" She spoke to everyone, but her eyes were locked with Leo's.

"Well she didn't see anything, and luckily for us, she doesn't seem to have been looking toward him when you froze her, so I'd say we just let her rationalize it away." Leo said.

"Do you guys really think she's just going to convince herself that he just left really quickly? That she's not going to think anything freaky is up?" Maria asked.

Leo, Piper and Phoebe all exchanged knowing glances. Phoebe nodded.

"Yes." Leo said.

"Definitely." Piper added.


	7. We've Come a Long, Long Way Baby

Aliens & Demons Pt. 7: We've Come a Long, Long Way Baby 

Author's Note, circa 11/6/05: Following the posting of Part 10 of this story, I have made one minor edit on this chapter to cover up an embarassing lapse in continuity on my part. Now, I suppose I could cook up some roundabout way of explaining this error, but in the interest of my sanity, I've simply gone back and changed it. I've only altered four words, but in the interest of full disclosure, I feel I should admit that in the originally posted version of this chapter, Leo reveals Prue's name to Maria in passing. So move along to the story now. Nothing to see here.

"Well Maria, you've now officially vanquished your first demon. How do you feel?" Phoebe asked once Leo had orbed everyone back to the Halliwell manor. Piper and Leo had orbed right back out again so that Piper could make sure everything was going smoothly at P3, leaving Maria and Phoebe in the attic alone.

"Weirdly enough, I'm kind of hyped. I mean, it wasn't exactly fun, but . . . I don't know, it was sort of exhilarating. Does that make sense?"

"I get it. The job definitely has its pitfalls, but it's nice being able to beat the bad guys." Phoebe said.

"Yeah." Maria replied. "Still, I can't really wrap my mind around doing this. How am I going to make it all work?"

"You'll figure it out." Phoebe said, coming up next to Maria and putting an arm around her shoulder. "It might take a while, but eventually, you'll find a way to balance it all."

"Eventually. Very comforting." Maria said, rolling her eyes.

Phoebe smirked. "Come on downstairs with me. I'm no Piper when it comes to cooking, but I could make some tea or something."

"Actually, I should get back to Roswell. I can think of at least three people who are probably looking for me by now."

"All right. Good luck."

"Kay." Maria nodded. "And Phoebe?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks."

"Hey, it's the least I can do." Phoebe smiled and pulled Maria into a one-armed hug.

Maria gave Phoebe an appreciative smile, then turned her head toward the ceiling. "Leo!" she called. He appeared almost immediately. "I'm in need of a lift here, pal."

"Where to?" Leo asked.

Maria paused for a moment before answering. _Hmm . . . Mom will probably be home by now, so I can't orb back there, but going straight back to the Crashdown could be risky, and I really don't want to work tonight. But I still have to change out of this stupid uniform,_ she realized. "How about the alley behind the Crashdown?" she suggested.

Leo nodded agreeably, putting a hand on her shoulder to pull her in as he dissolved into a now familiar orb cloud.

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The alleyway behind the Crashdown was blessedly deserted when Maria and Leo arrived. Maria took a cursory glance at the back door of the building, then turned to face Leo. "So, I guess I should expect to be hearing from you soon."

"Probably." Leo admitted. There was a moment of silence as Maria considered the implications of this and Leo surveyed her for a reaction. Maria stayed quiet until the question she had been asking herself all day finally made its way through her lips.

"Okay, so I kind of get the whole Charmed One thing a little better now, but I still have to ask the obvious. Why am I the one who has to deal with this whole magical destiny or whatever all of a sudden? I'm not stupid. I know I'm, like, the last person on the face of the earth anyone would trust with this much responsibility."

"Well, the Elders obviously disagree with that assessment, or they wouldn't have chosen you." Leo pointed out. "Look, I don't know you all that well, but you seem to be doing a pretty good job so far."

"I completely freaked out." Maria said, smirking. As she spoke, she looked past Leo and began to focus on an old newspaper on the ground nearby. She thought back to the feeling of power she had felt vanquishing Draksyl, and tried her best to channel the feeling again and make the paper move. At first, nothing happened, but then she felt the power spark up inside of her again. She tried as hard as she could to keep the power in a controlled, steady stream, and amazingly enough, when she lifted her right arm and moved it, the paper slid a few feet across the pavement. She flipped her wrist, and the paper flew through the air and fell into a nearby garbage can almost noiselessly. She grinned, barely able to contain her excitement.

Leo smiled too. "See? You're getting it already. Yeah, you flipped out at first, but when it got down to it, you came through. Believe it or not, not everybody would be able to get it together like that. Besides, it's early. It's not like the girls were all experts their first time around. You'll get the hang of it."

"Yeah, as long as I don't die painfully first." Maria said, then continued speaking before Leo could respond. "Anyway, I'm should go inside now and get this over with."

Leo paused. "Are you sure you don't-"

"No, no, you can go on back to San Francisco now." When Leo didn't move, Maria rolled her eyes and waved her hand in an exaggerated goodbye gesture. "Go on now, I can't just stand here arguing with you all night." Reluctantly, Leo orbed out, leaving Maria alone in the alleyway. She turned to face the door to the back of the Crashdown, collecting herself before opening the door and walking inside.

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From his place on the sidewalk fifteen feet away, Max Evans gaped.

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"Nice to see you've finally decided to show your face," Maria heard almost as soon as she walked through the door. Michael had his arms crossed in front of him in an imposing stance, but his eyes conveyed amusement.

"Oh shut up, I came in on time. I would have been able to tell you I was leaving for a while, but since you were _late_, I couldn't exactly do so."

"Liz is going to kill you when she finds out, you know that." Michael said, leaning against the lockers. "Where were you anyway?"

Maria flinched at the mention of inciting Liz's wrath, but she quickly brushed it off and shoved past Michael to get to her locker. "I just had something I really needed to get done. Besides, I'm here now."

"Yeah, 20 minutes after closing time. Very helpful." Michael retorted.

Maria's eyes darted to the clock on the wall. "Oh God, Liz _is _going to kill me. I didn't realize I was gone so long."

"Relax, I'll cover for you." Michael said with a shrug.

"You will? But you just said . . ."

"What can I say? I like to see you sweat." Michael said, a smirk crossing his face.

"You know Michael, someday you're going to want me to do you a favor, and if you're surprised when I don't, you can just think back to this day," Maria said, shooting him a look as she pulled her normal clothes out of her locker. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going home now."

"In your uniform?" Michael asked.

"I can change when I get home." Maria said airily, pivoting on her feet to face him directly.

Michael raised an eyebrow in puzzlement, but voiced no further questions. Instead, he bent down and gave her a long, slow kiss. Maria let out a small smile as he pulled away, the familiar spicy taste of his mouth on her lips. "See ya tomorrow," he said.

"Bye," she replied, turning reluctantly away from him to walk out the door.

Walking home, Maria's head was full of even more thoughts than usual, as she tried to work through everything that had gone on. _Lets see, I got superpowers, vanquished a demon, managed to keep it all secret, and I kept the guy. Maybe this isn't going to suck so much after all._

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Michael left the Crashdown through the front door and was surprised when he saw Max standing on the sidewalk, seemingly staring into nothingness. "Hey Maxwell." Michael said, coming up next to him and looking the same way, trying to focus in on what Max might be staring at, but he couldn't see anything in particular that merited such attention. "What's with you? What did you see?" he asked.

Max seemed to snap out of whatever had been holding his attention, and turned to look at Michael. His eyebrows knitted together in confusion. "I'm not exactly sure," Max admitted.

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Miles away, Phoebe had just finished fixing herself a cup of tea when Leo orbed into the living room with Piper. "I take it Maria got back all right?" she asked Leo.

"Yes, she got back fine. Confused, but fine. I think I might have underestimated her. She has an amazing grip on her powers already."

"She still has a lot to learn," Phoebe pointed out, remembering the earlier incident with Cole. "But she's got good instincts, I'll give her that."

"I still don't know," Piper admitted. "She's still just a teenager. Say what you will, but I think she's a liability. I don't want to risk losing someone else."

"She came through for us with Draksyl today though." Phoebe pointed out. "I think she'll be okay eventually. She just needs time."

"Since when do we have the luxury of time?" Piper pointed out. _Piper has a point there_, Phoebe had to admit. She took a sip of her tea, then rolled her head back on the couch to stare at the ceiling, enjoying the moment of relaxation while it lasted. Time or no, it would be a long road ahead, of that she was sure.


	8. Expect the Unexpected

Aliens & Demons Pt. 8: Expect the Unexpected 

Max Evans had done and seen many strange things in his time. He had hatched from a pod, saved his longtime crush from death by bullet wound, discovered that he was destined to be a king, met a town full of alien creatures who lived in human "husks," and worked to rescue two friends from a sealed cave filled with freaky blue crystals called gandarium. For his entire life, he had lived with the knowledge that he came from some distant planet and had to hide his true nature to avoid being discovered by the government. Not much surprised Max Evans.

Max Evans was very surprised now.

Nothing that he had been through had prepared him for what he had just witnessed a few hours before. Maria couldn't be an alien. It just wasn't possible. Everything that he knew about Maria, and about his own history, told him that Maria was one hundred percent human. But even with all that he had been telling himself for hours about how Maria would have told one of them if she was, how she would have used her powers to help them by now if she could, how the whole alien thing completely freaked her out . . . well, he couldn't escape the fact that he had just seen Maria exhibit what was definitely some kind of special power.

The only possible explanation he had been able to come up with was that Maria was not Maria. Max had encountered a shapeshifter before, so he knew it was possible. And posing as Maria would be a good way to get information; no one would have questioned her poking her head around because it was just the kind of thing Maria did. But if Maria was being impersonated by an alien, then where was the real Maria? A horrible feeling settled in the pit of Max's stomach when he asked himself this. What if she was dead? Or what if she was being held somewhere, waiting for everyone to save her? Max had to find out.

At least he had somewhere to start.

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On her third morning of being a witch, Maria DeLuca got a very rude awakening.

"Who are you?" She heard a voice yelling close by, and then she was being pulled out of a strange dream about vanquishing muffins in trenchcoats by a forceful tug on her arm.

"Hey!" she cried, blinking her eyes furiously. _Oh God, am I being kidnapped by some sort of demon? It is so too early in the morning to be kidnapped by the forces of darkness._ Once Maria had managed to get her eyes completely open, her fears were partially dashed. At least it was Max who was rousing her and not a demon, but that didn't make the fact that someone was in her house, pulling her out of bed, any less bizarre. _And what if this isn't even Max?_ Maria wondered. _Aliens can shapeshift; demons probably can too. Or, it could be an alien shapeshifter. Very comforting._ For lack of a better response, Maria burst out the first thing that came into her mind. "What are you doing?"

"Where is Maria?" Max was asking, and now Maria had gone from sleepy confused to plain old normal confused.

"What are you talking about? How did you even get in here?" Maria was being pushed toward the wall, practically pinned against it now, and the thought that Max might not be Max edged itself to the forefront of her brain.

"I don't know who you are, but I want you to stop now and tell me where my friend is!" Max replied, leaving Maria even more puzzled than she already was.

"What's going on in here?" A new voice chimed in, and Maria looked over Max's shoulder and spotted Sean leaning against the doorway, looking tired and confused.

"Go back to sleep Sean, its just Max." Maria said, fidgeting in an attempt to extricate herself from Max's grip.

"Why is Max here at 6:15 on a Sunday morning?" Sean asked.

"I'll tell you later Sean, just go and- oh, I don't know, take a shower or something." Maria said, figuring that it would only make things more difficult if she told her cousin that she actually had no idea why one of her closest friends had her pinned against a wall.

Sean rolled his eyes. "Where's Aunt Amy?" he asked.

"She went to deliver some pies to the Crashdown." Max cut in. He still sounded on edge, but he clearly realized that he couldn't very well go on interrogating Maria with Sean in the room. "She let me in when she left."

"All right man, no need get so angry. I know when I'm not wanted." Sean said, turning around and heading back toward his own room.

"Clearly you don't, or you wouldn't be living here!" Maria couldn't help shooting back as he left. Sean turned to give her a faux-wounded look, then walked back into his room and closed the door. For some reason, seeing Sean bolstered her confidance. Maybe it was just the knowledge that he was right in the next room and if she screamed, he would be able to hear her, but she felt better. "Okay Max, you need to explain to me right now what you are doing in my house and why you're acting like you don't know who I am."

"How stupid do you think I am?" Max shot back. He leaned in close to her and lowered his voice. "Look, I know you're not Maria. I _saw_ you in the alley last night."

Maria froze. Of all the things that she had thought might come out of Max's mouth, she had never anticipated him having seen her use her powers. She was silent, trying to think of something, anything, to say. Some way to explain what he had seen without actually explaining everything. Nothing came to her. "Look Max, it's not what you think."

"Yeah? What do I think? Because I sure don't know. Maybe you're an alien. Some sort of shapeshifter posing as Maria. Or maybe you're possessing her, is that it?" Max asked, pressing her tighter to the wall with every word and whispering in her ear.

"No. No! Max, I'm not an alien, I promise you." Maria paused. Leo, Phoebe and Piper were going to kill her for this. "Look, if I tell you a huge secret, you have to swear to me that you won't tell anyone. Not Michael, not Isabel, not even Liz."

Max was obviously taken aback. By the look on his face, he had been ready for almost anything: a guilty look, another denial, maybe even a firm knee to the groin. The sudden shift in the conversation, however, surprised him. He recovered though, and the suspicious, guarded look came back into his eyes. "Why should I trust you?"

"Come on Max, be realistic. If I were an alien, why wouldn't I have used my amazing alien superpowers on you when you came and pulled me out of bed? And thanks for that by the way, I was just thinking that my wrist could use some heavy trauma."

Max appeared to consider this, but he still looked skeptical. "If you're not an alien, then how do you explain that thing with the guy in the alley last night?"

"I will. Just promise me, Max, that you won't tell anybody what I'm about to tell you."

Another pause from Max. Maria had to hold back an agitated sigh. The whole thinking before making any decision of any kind thing that Max did might have made him a good king back on Planet Royal Four, but it was severely annoying here on Earth, where Maria just wanted to this whole thing over with. "Fine Maria, I promise." he said, seeing how impatient she was.

"I'm a witch, Max." Maria plopped down on the side of her bed, looking up at Max. Saying it out loud was wonderful. Now Max knew. Leo, Piper, and Phoebe might not be happy when they found out, but at least Maria would have a friend in this now. Maybe Max could even help out. After all, he had stopped the harvest and kept the other aliens from getting the weird, glowy granolith thingy. More importantly, he had to deal with the fact that everyone expected him to save the day all the time. If nothing else, he could offer useful tips on fighting evil.

"What?" Max blinked, staring back at her.

"A witch, a spellcaster, a magic-user, a tapper into the Great Spirit of Whatever. I'm a witch, Max." Assessing the blank look on his face, she asked, somewhat hesitantly, "You do know what a witch is, don't you Max?"

"I know what a witch is," he said. "But you're not- you can't be- that's impossible. Witches aren't real, Maria. They're fantasy creatures who wear black hats and ride around on broomsticks." The anger and suspicion had disappeared from Max's demeanor, and he was now surveying her with a look on his face that suggested that he wouldn't be surprised if she was suddenly dragged off and committed to Parkview. _Great, now he doesn't think I'm a shapeshifter, he just thinks I'm delusional._

More than anything right now, it was important to Maria that she convince Max that she was not a crazy person. For this reason, she formulated her response with an unusual amount of care before replying. "Yes Max, just like aliens are three feet tall with giant heads and three fingers. And don't even try to tell me that your situation is different, because you can prove that you're an alien. I can prove that I am a witch, Max, and you know that because you saw the proof yesterday in the alley. You can believe that what you saw is the result of something else, maybe even something alien, but you know that it happened and you know that you don't understand it. I am offering you an explanation Max. _Please_. Trust me."

For a moment, Maria wasn't sure what to think. Much to her relief, Max was no longer looking at her like she was insane, but then, he wasn't jumping to teach her any extra-cool-superpowers handshake either. After a silence that seemed to last three lifetimes, Max spoke. "How long?"

Maria had never thought any two words could sound so wonderful to her, unless, possibly, the words were 'recording contract.' She lay back on the bed, no longer under the horrible pressure to meet Max's eyes and impress upon him the truth of everything she was saying. "Just a couple of days. Okay, so this guy appears in my room in a bunch of blue light and tells me that I've gotten the powers of some important witch who died just a few days back. As if that wasn't freaky enough, he then says that this witch had two sisters in San Francisco who are also witches, and that I'm supposed to take their sister's place so that we can all fight evil together."

Max sat down on the side of the bed next to her, observing her from his seated position. His demeanor had completely shifted, and he was now back to being the person he usually was when he was talking to Maria. Earnest, but always with an undercurrent of that signature Max-esque stabilty which Maria, no matter how hard she might try, would never be able to replicate. "Wow," he said.

"Yeah. I have to say Max, until I got this gig, I never realized how little I envy your whole alien destiny thing. I mean these women, the other sisters, totally know what they're doing. We had to vanquish this demon last night, and I felt so out of my element. They're both expecting me to be this amazing witch like their sister, and I- what?" Maria stopped, noticing that Max's eyes had widened.

"You . . . vanquished a demon last night?" Maria couldn't tell which part of this was hard for Max to absorb: the fact that demons existed, or the fact that Maria had helped to destroy one.

"Uh huh. And Max, you know what the worst part about all of this is? I can't even tell Liz! I've never kept secrets from Liz before. I don't even know how to keep a secret from Liz. I mean, it's not like I tell her everything about myself, but if I'm not telling her something, at least I let her know that there's something I'm not telling her. Now, my life has completely changed and she doesn't even have a clue!"

"I wish I knew what to say." Max said.

"How about telling me that it's actually really easy to do the whole secret identity thing?" Maria suggested. Max didn't reply, but his raised eyebrow spoke volumes. "Fine, fine. Don't entertain my delusions. Fly away home, little birdy. You've done the good friend thing and listened to me whine, I'm not going to make you stay here all day."

Max hesitated. "I can stay, if you want to talk some more. I'm sure this is strange for you."

"Thanks Max, but it's fine. I think I'd like to spend some time thinking about something completely unrelated to magic for a while anyway." Maria stood up and motioned for Max to do the same.

"Okay. Feel free to drop by if you need to talk about anything."

"I will."

"All right. I guess I'll go then."

"Sounds good."

"Just, ah . . . one more thing," Max said, stopping in the doorway to Maria's room.

"Yes?"

"Could you maybe do something with your powers? I mean, I've never seen any besides our alien powers, and I'm kind of . . . curious."

"Stand back a couple of steps, Max."

"What?"

"Trust me on this."

Obediently, Max stepped back, out of Maria's doorway and into the hall. Maria gave Max a smile and a small wave, then raised her arm and channeled her power as she had been practicing and used it to shut the bedroom door with a click.

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On his way out of the Deluca house, Max was so busy processing what he had just seen and heard over the past half hour that he didn't even notice when a strange figure in a trenchcoat carrying a notepad shuffled down other side of the street a few minutes later. Had he taken notice, the sight might have given him a moment's pause, but surely he never would have considered that this figure's identity might prove very important later on. In this, he would have been mistaken.


	9. Getting to Know You

Aliens & Demons Pt. 9: Getting to Know You 

Back at Halliwell manor, the day had begun quite differently. Phoebe had gotten a full night of sleep for the first time since Prue's death. She suspected that she still had some sleepless nights ahead of her, but vanquishing Draksyl had, for the night at least, left her too worn out to think about her oldest big sister before falling asleep.

Waking up after a long rest was just as nice as Phoebe remembered it being. She loved being able to blink her eyes awake, stretch her entire body out from under the warmth of the covers, and plod downstairs in slippers and a robe to enjoy a cup of coffee and some sort of baked goods made by Piper. Unfortunately, Piper didn't seem to have been in the mood for baking between last night and now, but there was coffee, still steaming hot in its carafe. Phoebe poured herself a cup and was about to scour the kitchen for some sort of breakfast food when she noticed a small bag on the kitchen table with a note sitting beside it. Curious, she strolled over to the table and picked up the note.

Phoebe- 

_Sorry for not saying goodbye to you this morning, but I didn't want to wake you. I'm going down to the Underworld for a few days. I want to see what the word is about your new Charmed One. I'll check in again in a few days. Sorry I couldn't stay around for longer. I bought you a doughnut._

_Love, _

Cole 

Phoebe sighed. She knew that it was a good idea for him to see how much was known about Maria among the demon community, but that didn't change the fact that every time Cole was down in the Underworld was time that he wasn't with her. And even though she knew Cole could handle himself, she worried that something might happen to him. Trying to brush her fears out of her mind, Phoebe removed the doughnut from the bag in front of her. It cheered her slightly to see that it was an apple fritter, her favorite. It was obvious that Cole had bought her the doughnut out of guilt at having to leave again, but that didn't mean she couldn't enjoy it. She took a bite of pastry and washed it down with a sip of coffee, hoping the rest of her day would uneventful.

Smiling contentedly at nothing in particular, Phoebe slid the morning edition of _The Bay Mirror_ across the table and scanned the front page. The smile faded slightly when she saw the story at the bottom of the page. The headline read, **Girl Missing, Police Suspect 'Bay Snatcher'** and the story was accompanied by a photograph of a modestly pretty twentysomething. On it's own, the missing girl was nothing shocking. Tragic, but nothing too out of the ordinary. It was the whole "Bay Snatcher" thing that had Phoebe worried. Although the corny, sensationalistic nickname the police had given him made it sound like he was just your average thug who got off on taking a nice girl every once in a while, there was a definite pattern to the kidnappings. There had been four so far, and each one had taken place three days apart in a different section of town. All girls, all the exact same age: twenty-five.

Phoebe , now shaken from her peaceful morning routine, got up and rummaged through the kitchen drawers until she found her map of San Francisco and red pen. The locations of the first three kidnappings had been marked after the third one had taken place, when Phoebe had started to become suspicious. She laid the map on the table next to the article and used the red pen to mark the spot where the fourth girl had gone missing. Unfortunately, no light bulbs went off in Phoebe's head when she looked at the four locations on the map. They didn't form a straight line or part of a pentagon or any shape that Phoebe could see. Maria Lopez was taken by the waterfront, Jessica Norvell from an apartment near the center of the city, Ashley Marsh straight from her parents' house not too far from Halliwell manor, and the latest, Tamara Oldham, in the middle of the business district. If there was a pattern, it wasn't in the location.

She got up and rifled through the drawer again, this time grabbing news clippings from the other three kidnappings. Since she hadn't gotten worried until the third one, the first two articles had been printed off the internet from _The Bay Mirror_'s online archives. She scanned the articles for similarities other than age and gender, but nothing jumped out at her. _Maybe there isn't another connection,_ Phoebe thought. _Maybe whoever or whatever is taking these girls just needs them all to be the same age to do whatever it wants to do._ In which case, finding the next victim would be all but impossible. After all, twenty-five year old girls weren't exactly a rarity in San Francisco. And that was assuming the kidnapper even needed any more girls. For all Phoebe knew, four might be all it needed.

Phoebe rubbed her temples. She needed another perspective on this. "Leo!" she called. She expected him to orb in, but instead a voice responded from upstairs.

"What is it?" Leo called, sounding groggy.

"Sorry to wake you Leo, but can you come down here?" Phoebe asked. She _was_ sorry that she had woken Leo, but she was in the zone right now. All that interested her at the moment was finding out if the 'Bay Snatcher' was a supernatural baddie.

A few moments later, Leo did orb in in front of her. "You could have just taken the stairs, you know," Phoebe said, a smile playing at her lips.

"It sounded important. It is, right?" Leo asked. He sounded appropriately concerned, but Phoebe knew Leo was really just making sure she hadn't woken him up for no reason.

"It might be. I'm trying to figure out whether there's a pattern to these 'Bay Snatcher' kidnappings. I mean, beyond the obvious. There was another one this morning. It feels like there's a connection here that I'm missing. If I could just talk it out with someone, get another perspective . . ." she trailed off.

"Piper's at the store. I don't think she'd take too kindly to me orbing her home to help you follow a hunch." At Phoebe's expression, he added a bit defensively, "Hey, I think you could be onto something. I just don't think Piper's going to believe that it's important enough to justify dragging her home."

"What about Maria then?" Phoebe suggested. "I know she probably doesn't want to be bothered. But maybe she'll see something I don't. She's a Charmed One now, and she's gotta accept the grunt work that comes with the job, because I know I don't want to be stuck with it every time."

"You're not stuck with-" Leo began.

"Maybe I'm not stuck with all the research and spell writing yet, but I will be if things keep up the way they are. Piper's always busy giving us food and a steady income, you have other charges to deal with, and Maria has school and a job, not to mention that she lives in another state. I get that you guys can't pitch in all the time, but if one of you is free, I expect some help with this stuff." Phoebe knew she was ranting, but she couldn't help it. The feeling that she was going to get stuck researching demons all the time now had been bugging her ever since it had been revealed that the Power of Three was still in business.

"All right, Phoebe. I'll try my best to get her here. Don't worry, you won't have to do this all on your own."

"Good," Phoebe said, more to herself than to Leo as he orbed out.

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Much to her cousin's delight, Maria's desire to do something unrelated to magic ended up resulting in a lavish hot breakfast. She had made pancakes and eggs, set the table, and made a large pot of coffee.

"Wow," Sean said, looking at the meal waiting for him when he emerged from his room. "Who knew my baby cousin could actually cook?"

"Just because I don't cook doesn't mean I can't, Sean," Maria shot back as Sean sat down and began piling food onto his plate. She was already about halfway through her breakfast. It wasn't as good as when her mom made it, but it was passable. Better than cold cereal anyway.

"This isn't the same as when Aunt Amy makes it," Sean remarked, as if reading her mind.

"Excuse me? You're not seriously complaining about the hot breakfast that I just spent an hour making, are you? Because if you think you can do better, feel free to wake up early and cook food for me next weekend. Otherwise, I don't wanna hear it."

"Fine, _Mom_." Sean said, rolling his eyes.

"Oh, now that is just rude!" Maria exclaimed. She knew how bad Sean's relationship with his mom was. "I find you just as tiresome as you find me, but you don't see me going around comparing you to-" Her rant was interrupted by a faint noise from her room. A noise that sounded distinctly orb-like.

"What was that?" Sean asked, furrowing his brow.

"Cell phone," Maria answered, blurting out the first lie that came to mind as she lept up from the table. "Gotta go answer it." She got to her room and shut the door, putting a finger to her lips the moment she saw Leo. "My cousin's in the kitchen," she whispered. "Now what is it?"

"Phoebe wants your help with something. Are you free?"

Maria sighed, but nodded her head. So much for doing something normal with her day. "Go out through the window," she said. He looked a little surprised, but when she opened the window for him, he climbed through. As soon as he was outside, Maria shut the window behind him and walked out of her room and back to the kitchen.

"Look Sean, I'm going out for a while. Be a pal and clean all this up, will ya?" She smiled and waved goodbye to him, then walked out the door just as he was starting to lodge a protest. After looking back to make sure that Sean hadn't opened the door after her to complain further, Maria hurried back to the side of the house and met Leo.

"Ready?" Leo asked.

"Um, Leo, before we go, there's something you should know," Maria said.

"What is it?" Leo asked, looking intently at her.

"This friend of mine kind of saw us in the alley last night."

"You mean she saw you use your powers."

"He. But, yeah. And this morning, I kind of told him about the whole witch thing."

"What? Maria, you know that-"

"I can't just go around telling people and it could be dangerous and blah blah blah. I get it. Really Leo, I do. But he's kind of paranoid, ya know, and . . ." Maria trailed off, unsure how to continue.

"What are you talking about Maria?"

She thought for a moment, then decided that a little truth was best. "Well, he thought I was an evil alien pretending to be Maria. You know, it's Roswell. All the alien weirdos find their way here," Maria explained, holding back a smirk. _That, at least, is the truth,_ she thought.

"He thought an alien had made its way into your body?" Leo asked.

"Well, actually he thought that I was a shapeshifter. But really, that's not important. Anyway, he cornered me. I had to tell him something, and I figured it would be smarter just to go with the truth. See, he's kind of a control freak, and he would have gone to all of our friends and gotten everyone trying to figure out what's wrong with me, and it just would not have been a good thing."

"Look, why don't you just let me orb you to the Manor? I'm sure Phoebe will be glad to hear your entire explanation," Leo suggested. Maria groaned, but clutched onto Leo's arm.

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"You did what?" Maria cringed at Phoebe's voice. She sounded pissed. _On the bright side, at least Piper's not here. She could give Mom a run for her money._

"Phoebe, maybe Maria was right to tell her friend," Leo said, surprising Maria. He sure hadn't sounded too supportive when she had told him what she had done. "I was worried at first too, but Maria made some good points." _I made good points? Score for me!_ "We don't want all of her friends to band together and try to find out what she's hiding. And we _really_ don't want all of her friends to think she's some kind of evil alien who has to be stopped." _You've got that right. I might be a witch, but I'm really not anxious to pit my powers against the powers of four aliens. I wonder who would win in a fight between the Charmed Ones and the Royal Four, anyway. Maybe if . . ._

Maria was pulled from her thoughts by Phoebe, who broke the silence that had filled the room after Leo spoke. "So, your friend really thought you could be an evil shapeshifter?" she asked.

"Max is a little strange," Maria said. _Understatement,_ she added silently.

"Can you trust him?" Phoebe asked.

"Yes. Definitely. With my life."

"Good, because that's pretty much what you did," Phoebe said. She sighed. "I still don't like this. No one else finds out, got it? Not unless you've talked to me, Piper, and Leo about it first and we've _all_ agreed that it's the right thing to do. It's our lives you're risking too."

"Got it," Maria said, nodding. She had every intention of going to them if she ever wanted to let someone else in on the secret. Phoebe was right, she was putting everyone on the line. "Sorry," she added.

"Don't worry about it. We've all done it. Just don't do it again." Phoebe straightened in her seat and pasted a smile to her face. "Now, change of subject. Sit." Phoebe patted the chair next to her.

Maria obeyed, glancing down for the first time at the table in front of her. There was a map and four news articles spread across the table. "Demon?" she asked.

"That's what we're going to figure out," Phoebe replied. Before she could say anything more, Maria heard a noise, similar to the orbing sound she had begun to grow accustomed to.

"Sounds like a charge. I'll just leave you guys to it," Leo said, orbing out.

"I hate it when he does that," Phoebe said, rolling her eyes. "Now, the possible demon. Here's what I've got: the papers are calling it the 'Bay Snatcher.' It's taken four girls so far, all twenty-five, all three days apart, all in different sections of town. I've been trying to figure out how else they're connected, but so far, I've got nothing."

"Are you sure there even is another connection?" Maria asked.

"No. For all I know, this could be a completely human problem. But I kind of don't think so. I've spent the last three years learning to recognize supernatural occurances, and my gut is telling me there's a demon behind this. Which is why I asked for your help. I was hoping you might see something that I haven't. There must be something else that ties them together."

"But even if it is a demon, it might not be looking for people with something specific in common, right? I mean, soul-sucker guy didn't," Maria remarked.

"Draksyl only looked for witches," Phoebe reminded her. "I mean, you're right, sometimes demons do strike randomly. But there's a pattern to the attacks and to the victims, which makes me think these girls are being taken for a reason."

"Okay," Maria said, thinking hard. She wanted to say something good, something that would take them far, far away from the subject of Draksyl and the fact that he had only preyed on witches. Because if Phoebe started to wonder why he had gone after Isabel . . . well, that was a conversation that Maria _so_ did not want to have right now. "Maybe it's not about what the girls have in common. It could be about how they're different, couldn't it?" Maria suggested, thinking of the Royal Four and their whole destiny thing. "Like, each one can give this demon something different that he wants."

"That's interesting," Phoebe said, tapping her fingers and looking down at the articles in front of them. "You could be right. And if you are, all we have to do is figure out what each of these girls has that he needs. I'll be right back." Phoebe got up and hurried upstairs, probably going to retrieve the Book of Shadows. Inside, Maria glowed with pride. _I actually contributed an important idea!_ Maria thought. _It's almost as cool as that time I shorted out that thing the Skins used to make all the humans disappear from Roswell. The only thing that could make this better would be if I could go gloat to Michael about it._


	10. The Year of the Dragon

Aliens & Demons Pt. 10: The Year of the Dragon 

By the time Phoebe had come back downstairs, Book of Shadows in hand, Maria had read the articles Phoebe had collected. "Anything strike you?" Phoebe asked, sitting down and laying the book open on the table in front of her.

"Not really," Maria replied. "It's so sad though. I mean, look at the one about Jessica Norvell. She's an amateur goldsmith, so her boyfriend spent months learning about it from her so that he could make her an engagement ring – and then she disappeared the night before he was planning to propose."

"Yeah, it's pretty bad," Phoebe replied. She had actually kind of skimmed that part of the article when she'd read it. It hadn't sounded like it had anything to do with the kidnapping, and Phoebe hadn't felt up to dealing with the girl's personal info at the time. Prue's death had made these girls' disappearances just a little too close for comfort. "But we can get her back. We can get all of them back."

"Do you really think so?" Maria asked. "The guy were looking for might have killed them already."

"Then we'll make sure it doesn't kill anyone else. But we can't think like that. If the demon wanted to kill them right away, it wouldn't have kidnapped them. So the question is, what is it waiting for?" Phoebe turned the pages of the Book of Shadows, looking briefly at each page before moving on.

"A complete set?" Maria suggested.

"But of what?" Phoebe asked, sounding frustrated. "Different hair colors? Astrological signs? Favorite TV shows?"

"Well, I can't give you favorite TV shows, but I'm thinking hair color is not a factor, because Jessica's a blonde and the other three are all brunettes." Phoebe shot Maria an amused look at her answer to Phoebe's mostly rhetorical questions, but Maria didn't notice. "And astrological signs are a no-go too. They were actually all born within a few months of each other." Maria said. "Maria Lopez and Tamara Oldham are both Pisces, and Jessica and Ashley Marsh are Aries. Come to think of it though, they'd all fall within the same Chinese astrological year. Lets see, they're all twenty-five, so . . . 1976 . . . the year of the dragon."

Phoebe stared at Maria, eyes wide. "How did you know that?"

Maria flushed slightly. "I'm just kind of into astrology," she muttered.

"And I thought reading my horoscope in the morning and getting a tarot reading every so often made me an astrology enthustiast," Phoebe cracked, shooting Maria a teasing smile.

"Yeah, yeah, so I'm superstitious. I blame my mother," Maria said, waving her hand dismissively in the air. "So how about this whole 'year of the dragon' connection? That sounds kind of bad."

"You're not wrong," Phoebe muttered, paging through the Book. "I feel like I remember seeing something about a dragon in here somewhere, if I could just remember where . . . ah. Gotcha. And it's a Chinese demon. Looks like we might have our guy. And- oh, that sounds bad."

"What's it say?" Maria asked, craning her neck to see the page.

"Aolong Dao was first encountered in China in the early 15th Century, although he was around for years beforehand. He is believed to have been the most powerful from a small Chinese demon cult which drew its power from the different years of the Chinese calendar, using each year to draw on a different power. The year of the dragon is the most powerful of these. On the year of the dragon, the cult would use a special ritual to restore the power of its members for the next twelve years. While the rest of the cult mysteriously disappeared in the late 1300s, Aolong Dao went on a vicious killing spree across Asia. Afterward, he disappeared, although it is theorized he may someday reappear."

"His cult 'mysteriously disappeared?' Yeah, right. Obviously, this Oohlong dude killed the rest of the cult and used their power to go rip the guts out of a bunch of harmless Chinese peasents." Maria said.

"It seems likely," Phoebe said. "And I'm thinking he can be upgraded from 'possibly still around' to 'definitely around and on the hunt.'"

"But if he was so powerful, why did he just vanish? Somehow I don't think he's been spending the past 500+ years brooding in a cave somewhere."

"Yeah, it's weird." Phoebe was silent for a moment, thinking. "Well," she said finally, "whatever his reason for disappearing, now he's back and we've got to stop him from repeating his last rampage."

"But Phoebe, it doesn't make any sense." Maria said, not quite ready to let up. "This isn't a dragon year. Why didn't he just wait for the next year of the dragon, when he can get more power?"

"I don't know Maria, maybe he was tired of the cliché. You know, wanted to break out of the whole 'only every twelve years' thing."

"I guess," Maria said, sounding skeptical. "It just doesn't seem to fit."

"Okay, you're right, it doesn't fit," Phoebe admitted. "Maybe it has something to do with the ritual itself. If we can get our hands on that, it might tell us why this guy's not waiting for a dragon year. Plus, it could give us a clue who he's going to target next." She paused. "You know Maria, I have to be at the dentist in about . . . five minutes, but it would be really helpful if we had someone here researching Aolong Dao's ritual."

Maria met Phoebe's hopeful gaze. She rolled her eyes. "I'm never going to have even a hint of a life anymore, am I?"

"Sorry," Phoebe said, sounding genuinely apologetic. "If it helps at all, Leo seems to be busy, so you might have been stuck here for the rest of the day whether or not this guy needed researching."

"It doesn't, but thanks for your concern," Maria said.

Phoebe smiled and started putting on her shoes. "There are a ton of books in the attic you can look through, and feel free to grab something out of the kitchen if you get hungry. If Piper comes home, bring her up to speed, but try not to sound too worried. Piper has a tendancy to freak out about stuff like this, and we like to give her her normal life when we can. And now I really have to go, so goodbye and good luck."And with that, Phoebe grabbed her purse and hurried out the door.

"Bye," Maria said gloomily after Phoebe had left. She looked down at the Book of Shadows, reading over the entry on Aolong Dao once more to make sure she hadn't forgotten anything in the last two minutes. After all, she'd never been very good at retaining history knowledge for class, and she figured ancient demon trivia wouldn't be much different. Then she stood and trudged up the stair toward the attic. First, though, she stopped off on the second floor, walking the hallway and peeking into each room. _Hey, I'm probably going to be spending a lot of time here. I might as well familiarize myself with my surroundings, right?_

She made her way from room to room, taking a brief survey of everything. Piper's room was neat and practical, with photographs covering the night table and other counters. Her sisters, Leo, and a few older pictures that Maria figured were probably the sisters' grandmother and mother (or maybe an aunt). Phoebe's room suited Maria's tastes a little more, although like Piper's, it was relatively neat. She had a TV and a VCR with a small stack of horror movies next to it.

At the third sister's room though, Maria paused. She still knew next to nothing about Piper and Phoebe's recently dead older sister. Quite honestly, she hadn't thought about her much. Her own new powers had been consuming most of her thoughts since she had discovered them. As Maria thought about it now though, it was weird to think that she had basically been given her powers to take this woman's place. _And I refer to them as 'my powers,' but they're really her powers, now aren't they? I just kind of inherited them._ Maria shuddered a bit at this thought, but it spurred her to walk all the way into the room.

She quickly focused in on a diploma on one of the walls. _Prudence Halliwell_. _Another 'P' name. I guess I'm the first Charmed One not to have one. That's me, bucking the trend._ The room itself was nice, although it was somewhat crammed, because there were boxes of what were presumably Prudence's old possessions filling the space. She knelt by one of the boxes and picked up a framed photograph on top of it. Maria had seen pictures of Prudence in the downstairs of the manor and back in Piper and Phoebe's rooms, but this was the first time she looked closely at the deceased sister. The picture showed all three sisters standing together outside the manor, not smiling, but not looking upset either. Prudence was staring straight into the camera, squinting a little as though she was looking toward the sun. She looked smart. Intense. And strong. _Now how am I supposed to measure up to that? This woman clearly had a hold on the whole 'power' thing._

Maria put the picture back down and left the room. Generally, snooping gave her a feeling of satisfaction and superiority, but going into Prudence's room was like taking a large dose of some very strong medicine. She might be able to help Phoebe look up stuff and say a few words in unison with Piper and Phoebe to made some demons go poof, but she was still the weakest link. She was nowhere near Phoebe or Piper or the ghost of Prudence when it came to skill. She had a long way to go.

Thoroughly shaken, Maria walked the rest of the way to the attic. She went to the shelves and ran her fingers over the spines of the books, skimming over their titles. A few looked pretty new; these were mostly compendiums of different items used in spellcasting and their properties. _Probably Phoebe's,_ Maria mused. Most of the books, though, looked older. Some appeared to have been bound by hand, some were faded and stained so badly as to be barely readable, and one had a small scorch mark on the cover. Maria chose a book that looked old without being obscure simply titled _Spells_. It was one of the handbound ones, and as she flipped though the pages, Maria could see handwritten notes in the margins.

She was just about to settle herself down on the sofa for a fun-filled morning of demon research when she saw something that wasn't possible. The very space by the door of the attic seemed to _shift_ for a moment. Then, where Maria was sure there had been nothing before, there was a large figure. So Maria did the first thing she thought of. She screamed.


	11. Sooner Would be Better

Aliens & Demons Pt. 11: Sooner Would be Better 

Author's Note: I just wanted to take a moment to thank everyone who's been reading and giving me feedback. It's greatly appreciated, I assure you. And sorry about the infrequent updates. I'm trying to be more consistent and frequent with them, and if all goes well, this story might even be finished by spring of 2006.

"Hey! It's okay, it's me. Remember me?" Cole asked, moving forward. He shot a glance back at the attic door to see if Phoebe or Piper was going to come respond to Maria's scream, but apparently they weren't home. _Interesting. I wouldn't trust this girl alone with my priceless home and one of the most valuble magical artifacts in existence, but maybe I'm missing something here._

"Don't . . . ever . . .do that again!" Maria exclaimed, her eyes wide. She was still maintaining her distance from him, but at least now she wasn't screaming anymore. "What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to talk to Phoebe. Where is Phoebe, by the way?" Cole asked.

"Dentist," Maria said. Cole nodded and began to walk further into the attic, but Maria stopped him short. "Could you just, you know, stay over there?" she asked, not taking her eyes off him.

Cole sighed, but backtracked his steps. "You know, you can be scared of me all you want, but you're wasting your time," Cole pointed out. "I'm not going to hurt you."

"Yeah, okay. Well, I appreciate that, but I'd rather we just kept our distance for now. _You know_, in case you start to feel a little nostalgic about your good ole days of maiming and killing people. Okay? Fantastic."

_For someone who's supposedly so terrified of me, this girl's surprisingly unconcerned about the possibility of offending me,_ Cole mused. He was about to reply, but was interrupted by the ringing of a cell phone. Maria looked down at her purse and groaned.

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"Hello?" Maria said into her phone, continuing to shoot sideways glances at Cole.

"Hey Maria. It's Liz."

"Hi Liz. Look, now's really not the best time to talk. Can I call you back later?"

"Now, is that later as in this afternoon, or 'later' like you came back later for your shift last night, as in not planning to call me back at all?" Liz asked, her voice an odd mixture of playfulness and annoyance.

"Didn't Michael tell you why I was gone?" Maria asked weakly.

"Yes Maria, he did, but since you've never allowed 'PMS' to get in the way of work before, I'm thinking there's something else going on here."

Maria squeezed her eyes shut briefly, cursing Michael. _PMS? God Michael, talk about doing me a non-favor!_

"Troubles in teen paradise?" Cole asked, cocking an eyebrow.

"Who's that Maria?" Liz asked. "Are you with another guy? Wait, is that the big secret Maria? You're not . . . you're not cheating on Michael, are you?" Liz's questions crackled through the phone at Maria-esque speed.

"No! I am not cheating on Michael, Liz. The guy's just a friend of a friend. Now I promise I'll explain everything later, but I really can't talk now. We'll talk tonight Liz, I promise you. Just give me a few hours."

Liz sighed. "All right Maria, whatever. Bye." Maria heard the click of the phone disconnecting. _Liz sounded really annoyed there,_ Maria thought. She looked mournfully down at her phone.

"Who was that?" Cole asked, raising an eyebrow.

Maria didn t answer Cole's question; she merely glared at Cole. "Thanks a lot," she muttered, too annoyed with Cole to bother being scared of him at the moment. These were exactly the kinds of questions she did not need being raised at the moment.

Cole looked nonplussed. "I think I'll just come back later when Phoebe is around," he said.

"Best news I've heard all day," Maria retorted. She watched Cole intently until he left in the same way that he'd appeared, seeming to shift the space where he had been for a moment after he'd disappeared. Maria dropped down on the couch and picked up the book she'd been looking at before Cole had made his entrance. She supposed she could call Liz back right now and get everything straightened out, but what would she say? _I can't believe I actually promised Liz that I would explain everything to her! Now what do I say when she wants an explanation? It's not like I can tell her what's been going on, not after what I also promised Phoebe and Leo. I've really gotta learn to shut my mouth whenever the word 'promise' starts to come out._ Maria tried to push her personal issues to the back of her mind and focus on finding the year of the dragon ritual, but still, Maria's mind wandered of it's own accord back to the disappointment in her friend's voice as she got off the phone.

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When Piper came home, she was surprised to find the house empty, save for Maria, who was rifling through books in the attic. "Uh . . .hi Maria," she said upon reaching the attic. "Anything I should know about?"

"Just a demon," Maria said casually. Too casually, in Piper's opinion, considering how new this all was to her. "Phoebe had to go to the dentist, so she asked me to start the research."

"I see. How's that going?" Piper asked. She was still absorbing the fact that Maria was hanging out in their house alone looking through their stuff. Sure, she was trying to learn about some demon, but still. Piper still liked her boundaries, and letting a girl they had known for less than a week have free reign of the manor was cutting into them.

"Not bad, actually," Maria replied.

"Care to fill me in?" Piper asked.

"Well, I'm not really sure how everything fits together yet," Maria said vaguely. Piper squinted at her. From what Piper had seen, Maria was pretty much a straight arrow: she said what she was thinking, often loudly and with plenty of opinion thrown in. Her not wanting to fill Piper in on a demonic threat was odd. Piper decided to let it go for now though. After all, she still wasn't eager to get back into the business of vanquishing demons, and the longer she could stay out of the current issue of the week, the better.

"Okay, well, let me know when you do, " Piper said, pasting a bland smile on her face. "Anything else interesting come up while I was gone?"

"Cole stopped by," Maria said, her voice darkening. "He was looking for Phoebe, but she'd already left by the time he got here. He'll probably be back later." Maria didn't sound too thrilled at the prospect of Cole's return, Piper noted to herself.

"Look, Maria," Piper began, "Cole's around a lot. And we've looked into in his background plenty, believe me. It's not like we haven't worried about his Belthazor side coming out. But we trust him, and he's not going anywhere. So you've gotta be able to get along with him, or at least deal with his presence."

Maria looked at her from over the book she was looking through. "He's a demon. When did you guys become okay with that? When Phoebe started making out with him?"

Piper sighed. This conversation was all too familiar to her. _Probably because you had similar ones with Prue for half of last year,_ she thought. That memory began to spur new ones however, so Piper pushed those thoughts to the back of her mind and concentrated back in on Maria. "Look, Maria. He's here to stay, so just deal, all right?" Piper realized after she had spoken that her reply had come out more rude than she had intended, but she was becoming more than a little weary of this whole conversation. After all, she'd had to suck it up and deal with Cole before she trusted him too, and that was knowing that he had been trying to kill Phoebe for months beforehand.

Maria's eyes widened. "Uh, okay," she said, eyeing Piper as if she had just grown a third arm or contracted some strange skin ailment. "Sorry."

"Look," Piper said, a bit more gently, "my point is just that he wouldn't be in our house if we didn't have good reason to trust him. I'm not asking you to like him, I'm just asking you to accept the fact that he's probably not going anywhere anytime soon. Trust me, the sooner you learn to accept it, the happier you'll be."

Maria nodded, pursing her lips. She still looked annoyed about the whole thing, but Piper made an inner decision not to care. She would come around in time. _And if she doesn't . . . well, that will be her problem, not mine._ "Look, I'm going to go put the groceries away. You want something to eat?"

"Actually, that sounds great. All I had was half a pancake three hours ago. Besides, I could use a break." Maria shut the book she had been paging through and stood up. Piper was surprised. When she'd asked Maria if she wanted something, she'd imagined bringing something up to her, not sitting down to lunch with her alone. However, Piper recovered herself and smiled.

"Great," she said. "Just . . . follow me."

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Once she had finished with her dentist appointment, Phoebe had gone shopping. Unlike Piper, though, Phoebe had been shopping for items of a more magical character. She'd made two stops, the first to her favorite magic shop. The place was filled with everything a witch could want: books, crystals, plenty of potions ingredients, and a bright, cozy atmosphere. The place catered to your average citizen interested in dabbling with the occasional love spell as well as to real witches, so it wasn't as musty or out of the way as most of the places Phoebe had tried out. She picked up a bunch of crystals there and gotten plenty of potions ingredients to help restock the Halliwell supply. When she went to the counter to pay, she received a welcoming grin from the cashier.

"Phoebe! Good to see you again. You haven't been by in a while, and I started to worry that something had . . ." the girl lowered her voice, "you know, _happened_ to you."

Phoebe gave the girl, who Phoebe happened to know was the daughter of the store's owner, a sad smile. "I wish I could say that you were wrong, Melissa."

The girl, Melissa, gave Phoebe a curious glance, but didn't inquire further. Phoebe was greatful.

Phoebe's second stop was a place in Chinatown. She had only been there twice, although she knew Piper made trips there sometimes. She knew Piper got some of the rarer potion ingredients in her stock from the place, but Phoebe had never had an eye for picking out the subtleties of what distinguished a good mandrake root from a bad one and all that, so she was kind of clueless as to what they needed most. Phoebe compensated by picked up a little of everything. She had no idea what the potion for Aolong Dao might require, but she figured if they needed any weird ingredients, this would be the place to get them.

After that, Phoebe went back to the manor, loaded down with witchy goodies. She was actually kind of excited to show them off to Maria, who seemed to be taking an interest in figuring this guy out. _Good for her_, Phoebe thought, smiling to herself. She opened the door and was immediately greeted by Maria herself, looking very excited.


	12. I've Got a Theory

Aliens & Demons Pt. 12: I've Got a Theory 

"I found it!" were the first words out of Maria's mouth when she saw Phoebe walk through the door.

"Really?" Phoebe asked. "What'd you get?"

Maria took a breath and held up a book to a page headed _Rituals and Tradtions: Chinese Calendar Worship: Dragon: To Gain Power_. It took some effort for her to heft the book up for Phoebe to look at; Rituals and Traditions was huge and Maria wasn't exactly a body builder.

"What's going on in here?" Piper asked, coming into the foyer.

"Maria found the ritual we think our demon is going to re-enact," Phoebe explained.

"Except he's not," Maria cut in. "At least, not exactly. See, to make the ritual work, it has to be done on one of the dragon years of the Chinese calendar. But this year isn't a dragon year." Piper had been looking over Phoebe's shoulder at the description of the ritual, but she looked up when Maria said this.

"Yeah, we got that far this morning," Phoebe said.

"Okay, yes, we did, but if you let me finish, I'll tell you what I think happened," Maria said.

Phoebe rolled her eyes. "Fine, give me your theory."

"Okay, so this isn't a year of the dragon, but as we realized this morning, all the girls were born in the spring of 1976, which _was_ dragon year. So what I figure is, for some reason or other, demon guy can't wait a few more years to get more power, so he's doing the next best thing. He's getting people born on a dragon year so that he can draw on that power through them and get enough power to last him at least the next few years." Maria paused, surveying Phoebe and Piper's reactions. "Did that make sense?"

Phoebe nodded slowly. "No, I get what you're saying. Aolong Dao needs power now, so he's going to do the ritual, drawing power from the girls since they have a natural connection to the year of the dragon."

"Yeah," Maria said, a bit surprised that Phoebe had been able to sum up her rambling thoughts so easily.

"And since this Aolong Dao is a demon, I'm guessing the ritual isn't going to end well for these girls," Piper said.

"If the ritual doesn't kill them, Aolong Dao definitely will," Phoebe confirmed. "Back in his heyday, this guy got his kicks murdering Chinese peasants."

"Of course," Piper said. "They can't just be satisfied with drawing from tons of power. They have to go after the peasants."

"The ritual isn't all I found," Maria said. "There's spell in here called _Elemental Augmentation_ that I think has something to do with this too. The idea is that by putting a piece of each of five Chinese elements in a spell, you can amplify its effect."

"Kind of like we call the four directions or our four elements in some spells," Phoebe said, thinking out loud. "Makes sense."

"It's risky though," Maria added. "If you don't get things that represent the elements well enough, it can throw your spell or potion or whatever out of whack and even give it the opposite effect, which is probably why you don't see everybody trying to draw on the Chinese elements."

"Someone's been hitting the books," Phoebe said, raising her eyebrows. _No need to sound so surprised,_ Maria thought. "So you think Aolong Dao is trying to get things to represent each of the Chinese elements in order to make the spell stronger." Phoebe said.

"I think he already has," Maria replied. "Or at least, he's well on his way. I think he's using the girls for more than just their connection to the year of the dragon."

"You think they represent the elements too?" Phoebe asked, raising her eyebrows.

"Think about it, Phoebe," Maria said, getting more excited. "Maria Lopez was taken by the waterfront. And Jessica Norvell's a goldsmith, remember? I bet if we look, we'll find connections to the elements for all these girls."

Phoebe looked at Maria, appearing to consider her words. It was quiet for a moment, and then Piper broke the silence. "Forgive me, but I'm not really into this astrological, elemental stuff. What are the five elements we're looking at here?"

"Earth, water, wood, metal, fire," Phoebe supplied. She seemed to have reached the unspoken conclusion that Maria's theory was good enough to at least look into, which gratified Maria considerably.

"Okay," Piper said, "and how many girls does Aolong Dao have so far?"

"Four," Phoebe replied.

"So if Maria's right, he only needs one more girl."

"Correct," Phoebe said. "And all of them have been taken three days apart, so since he took Tamara last night, he should be looking for number five in about two days."

"Unless he gets a little impatient and decides to stop being nice and predictable for us," Piper said.

"Right," Phoebe said. "I think we should operate on the assumption that he could take his fifth victim anytime now."

"So, what now?" Maria asked, looking from Phoebe to Piper. Despite the urgency of the situation, it occurred to Maria that she needed to call Liz back soon if she wanted to stay on her best friend's good side.

Phoebe thought. "Why don't you look for more on Ashley Marsh and Tamara Oldham? Assuming Aolong Dao is using Maria for water and Jessica for metal, Ashley and Tamara are going to represent either earth, wood, or fire. And if we know what they are, then we know what he's going to look for in the fifth victim, meaning-"

"-we might be able to find her before he gets to her," Maria finished. "Yeah, I'm on it, I guess."

"Great, you can use my laptop if you want," Phoebe said. "Piper, can you go through the Book of Shadows and see if there's some way we can find Aolong Dao without anything to scry with?"

"Yeah, okay. And what will you be doing while we slave away to beat this guy, Phoebe?" Piper asked, sounding amused.

"I'm going to take this," Phoebe took Rituals and Incantations out of Maria's hands, much to Maria's relief, "and I'm going to come up with a spell to stop the ritual and maybe a potion to bring down the '_Bay Snatcher_.'"

Piper did a double take. "Wait, the 'Bay Snatcher' is our demon?"

"Yep," Phoebe replied.

Piper paused, considering, then shrugged and started up the stairs to the attic, leaving Phoebe and Maria alone together.

"Good work Maria," Phoebe said after Piper had gone. "At this pace, we'll have thrown Aolong Dao into the Wasteland by dinnertime."

"I'll have to go home for dinner sooner or later, but thanks," Maria replied. "Actually, it's not as bad as I thought it would be. It's really not too different from some of my other after school activities," she quipped.

Phoebe raised her eyebrows. "Really? What do you do after school, fight evil aliens?" She smirked.

Maria tried not to let her eyes widen, but it was difficult. She forced a smile and a small laugh. "Aliens, right. Funny. You're . . . funny, Phoebe." _Oh, that's great, that sounded totally normal. She'll never know I'm hiding anything now._

Phoebe did squint at her, and Maria's heart raced, though she tried to keep looking pleasant. Then Phoebe gave a little half smile. "Sorry, I forgot you get sick of all the alien jokes. Won't happen again." She shifted Rituals and Incantations so that she was holding it in the crook of her right arm. "I'm going to go up to my room to try and make some spells out of this. Yell if you get any breakthroughs." With that, Phoebe turned and headed up the stairs.

As soon as Phoebe was out of sight, Maria let out a breath. She knew she should go and research the girls, but she couldn't help bending down and looking through the contents of the bags Phoebe had brought back to the manor first. It looked to be mostly potion ingredients, with a few crystals mixed in. Maria examined the crystals, vowing to get some from her mother's shop when she was back in Roswell. After all, she had been researching all afternoon, and it hadn't taken her long to realize that they were majorly handy in witchcraft.

_This is so messed up. In a few days, I've gone from freaking out and thinking Leo was an alien to starting my own collection of witchy paraphernalia. It's official, I've finally gone psycho. Less than a week, and I'm already drunk with power._ Maria sighed and went to scrounge up Phoebe's laptop.

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"Hello?"

"Hey Liz, it's me."

"Maria. Hi. Nice of you to call me back." Liz tried to keep any bitterness out of her voice, but she could tell she wasn't doing very well.

"Liz . . ." Maria's voice trailed off.

"I take it you're going to explain what happened this morning, Maria?"

"Actually . . . I can't Liz."

Liz was silent for a moment, blinking in disbelief. "You promised me, Maria."

"I know. It was stupid of me. I'm sorry." Maria sounded pained. "I could try to explain it, but I don't want to lie to you. It's just . . . I made a promise to someone else that I would keep this private."

"What is 'this'? Who is 'someone else'? What is going on with you?" Liz felt her voice rising.

"I wish I could tell you," Now Maria sounded on the edge of tears, but it barely registered with Liz.

"You know, Maria, I don't think you do wish you could tell me. Because you'd think that after all I've trusted you with, you would be able to let me in on this kind of thing. I told you Max, Michael, and Isabel's secret, remember? If I can tell you that, there is nothing big enough that you can't tell me. So either you don't trust me as much as I trust you, or you just don't want me to know. And no matter which it is, I think this conversation is over."

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A dial tone rang in Maria's ears before she could respond to Liz's hurt tirade. Sighing, she snapped shut her cell phone and typed 'Ashley Marsh' into the search engine on Phoebe's home page. She was barely able to read the results through eyes misty with tears.


	13. Bittersweet Symphony

**Aliens & Demons Pt. 13: Bittersweet Symphony**

"Okay, lets regroup. What have we got?" Phoebe asked. It was three hours later and Piper, Phoebe, Maria, and Leo were all gathered in the parlor.

Maria, strangely subdued, picked up a yellow legal pad with notes on it and began to speak. "Well, it turns out Ashley's in training to be a firefighter, so that one was easy. But I couldn't really find anything on Tamara that screamed 'earth' or 'wood.' I've got some notes on her here. Pretty basic stuff, mostly: single, works for an accouting firm, family all says she was a great person, no surprise there . . ."

"Okay, good job Maria. Piper?" Phoebe turned.

"You're really enjoying this, aren't you?" Piper asked, raising an eyebrow. She set the Book of Shadows on the table and flipped to a page headed _To Divine the Elements_.

"What's divining the elements?" Maria asked.

"It's basically the magical equivalent of using a divining rod to find water," Piper explained. "We take a divining rod and say the spell over it and it leads us to a strong source of whatever element we specify. I tweaked it a bit so it would work for us."

"Um, not to be negative here, but where are we going to get a divining rod?" Maria asked.

"Oh, we can just break a two-pronged branch off one of the trees," Phoebe replied. "As long as the spell works on it, it doesn't matter if it can actually find underground water."

"Are you sure?" Maria asked.

Phoebe smiled. "Half of being a witch is being able to change spells around to fit our needs," she said.

Maria shrugged. "You're the expert."

"And what about you, Phoebe?" Piper asked. "Got a spell to stop this guy?"

"That I do," Phoebe said. "I've even got a potion to go with it." She smiled. "So, it appears we've got a location, a vanquish and three out of three witches. Looks like we're ready to go!"

"Wait," Maria broke in, "What about finding victim number five? Don't we have to do that?"

"Not if all goes as planned," Leo replied. "Vanquishing the demon will eliminate the threat, so we probably won't even have to bother with it."

"Let me get this straight," Maria said. "I just spent the past three hours digging up info on the girls so we could tell what element they represented so that we could find the last victim through what element she was, and now we don't even have to find the fifth victim?" Maria asked. "Then what did I just spend my afternoon doing?"

"If we weren't ready to vanquish Aolong Dao, we would have needed to find the last girl quickly." Phoebe replied. "It would have taken too long to do the research if we had waited until now to start." At Maria's glare, Phoebe added, "Cheer up Maria. Now, if all goes wrong, we can find the fifth girl more quickly. Besides, you're the one that did all the initial stuff on Aolong Dao. When we get this guy, you will have played just as big a part as Piper and I."

Maria crossed her arms, but her mouth was crooked up at one corner. Piper supplied a tight smile and stood up. "Good to see we're all feeling fulfilled. Now if nobody minds, I'm going to go get the ingredients for the divining spell." She didn't wait for a reply before she stalked out of the room. Maria watched her leave, looking surprised at Piper's sudden brusque manner.

Leo exchanged a look with Phoebe. "I'll go talk to her," he said, moving to follow his wife.

"Nah, I'll go," Phoebe replied. She smiled at Leo and Maria, then headed to the kitchen, where Piper was pulling ingredients out of the cupboards, looking terse.

"You okay?" Phoebe asked.

"Yes, Phoebe I'm fine," Piper said.

Phoebe was silent for a moment. "Okay," she said. "But you know, if there was something wrong, I might ask you if it had anything to do with Maria's starting to become good at all things witch. And I might guess that you don't like the thought of her taking Prue's place so easily."

Piper rolled her eyes and swiveled to face Phoebe. "She's _not_ taking Prue's place. And thanks for the analysis Phoebe, but I could do without."

Phoebe sighed and came closer, trying to speak softly so that Maria wouldn't hear from the parlor. "Look Piper, it's okay if this is taking some getting used to. It's a big adjustment for all of us. No one's gonna blame you for being upset."

"I'm not upset," Piper replied, crossing her arms.

Phoebe examined her sister. Her crossed arms and pursed lips suggested annoyance, but Phoebe had known her sister long enough to know that if Phoebe's suggestion had really made Piper angry, she would be rolling her eyes and ranting right about now. Instead, she was standing silent and still, blinking rapidly. Phoebe smiled ruefully and slipped her arms around Piper's shoulders. She felt Piper rest her head against Phoebe's shoulder."Of course you're not upset, honey," Phoebe said placatingly. "Just tell me if you need to talk." Piper remained silent, but Phoebe felt her give a tiny nod.

Phoebe moved away from Piper, who looked, if not sad, at least quite a bit more subdued. "Come on out when you've got everything ready," she said, then returned to the parlor.

"How is she?" Leo asked when Phoebe returned.

"She'll be fine," Phoebe said. _Eventually. _"Nothing time won't fix." Phoebe smiled, but it felt fake, even to her. Piper's reaction to Maria's blossoming Charmed One-ness had made her a little more aware of the foreignness of Maria hanging out in their house, helping them find and vanquish the demon of the moment. She still felt proud of Maria for proving herself so well with the Aolong Dao research, but a little bit of resentment had creeped in as well. _She may be getting better at handling herself,_ Phoebe thought, _but we'd still be better off if Prue was still here._ Immediately, Phoebe worked to wash the thought from her brain, trying instead to focus her attention on Leo, who was currently explaining the properties of the vanquishing potion Phoebe had made to Maria. Still, the thought remained at the back of her brain, refusing to disappear.

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It wasn't until about twenty minutes later that everything was together and ready to go. Piper had gathered up a two-pronged tree branch, a small bowl of water, a box of matches, a thin gold bracelet, and a small clump of dirt.

"I count four elements," Maria said, "Aren't we looking for five?"

Piper pulled a match out of the matchbox and tapped on its wooden base. "Two birds, one stone," she said, breaking the tip off the match and setting the small stick of wood that remained over with the other ingredients. She pulled the revised spell for divining the elements out of her pocket and laid it flat on the table, examining it for a moment. Then, carefully, she picked up the tree branch and began to tie the match stick to one prong with the gold bracelet. Phoebe started working as well, pulling another match out the box and holding it ready to strike. When Piper had finished tying down the bracelet, she held the stick's other prong up to Phoebe, who lit it with the match she was holding. Piper promptly doused the burning stick in the water, then turned to Maria. "Could you sprinkle that on, Maria?" she asked, motioning to the clump of dirt.

Maria, who had been watching the sisters work with a kind of detached awkwardness, grabbed a fistful of dirt and released it over the stick, trying to spread it as evenly as possible.

"Hey, careful of the jewelry there," Phoebe protested. "Cole got that for me." Maria rolled her eyes, but finished sprinkling the dirt farther up on the stick.

"Good," Piper said, setting the stick down and bending once again to read off the spell she had written:

"_Elements I call you here,_

_Lead me to your greatest human stores,_

_Fire, water, wood, metal, earth, please draw me near,_

_With this rod, open all doors."_

The effect was immediate. The stick began to glow, and colors swirled on its bark. "Pick it up!" Phoebe said to Piper, grabbing her shoulder. Maria, assuming she was supposed to follow suit, took Piper's other shoulder. Piper grabbed the stick, and suddenly Maria was shooting upward, feeling as though she was being squeezed through a toothpaste tube. _I definitely prefer orbing_, Maria thought, laboring to draw breath. One thing was to be said for the trip, however; at least it was short. Within moments, Maria found herself standing exactly as she had been before, clutching Piper's shoulder, only now they were all standing in the middle of a lush, sweet-smelling garden.

Piper stepped forward, shaking herself off and turning to face Phoebe. "Thanks for making me hold the freaky glowing stick there, _sis_," she said.

"Hey, you said the spell. I figured you might have to take the stick too," Phoebe shot back.

"Hey guys?" Maria broke in, looking around. "Where are we now?"

"If all went as planned, we're wherever Aolong Dao is keeping the girls," Phoebe replied.

"Yeah, well, I don't see any girls," Maria said. "All I'm seeing is shrubbery."

"They should be here somewhere," Phoebe said with a shrug. "Maybe we should look around a little bit. Could be they've been hidden."

"Or maybe the glowy tree branch took us to the wrong place," Maria said. "Because I'm not seeing-"

"Watch it!" Piper cried, and Maria saw her throw out her hands, eyes wide. Maria turned around and gave a small screech. A huge Asian guy was snarling down at her, sharp animalistic claws about two inches from her head. But he wasn't coming any closer. Maria let out a sigh of relief, realizing that Piper must have frozen him. She backstepped away from him, shuddering.

"Thanks for that," she said, coming to stand next to Piper. Piper nodded back at her, not speaking. Maria looked at the guy again, and she saw that Phoebe hadn't moved away from him. In fact, she seemed to be kind of . . . hopping around the guy. "Um, Phoebe?" Maria said, "_What_ are you doing?"

Phoebe stepped away to reveal that a net of blue electricity was now surrounding the guy. "I brought crystals," she explained, "just in case."

"You have the vanquish?" Piper asked.

"Yep," Phoebe replied.

"Great. Let's do this," Piper said.

"Wait," Phoebe said. "Unfreeze him."

"What?" Maria hissed. "How do you know that guy can't just break out of your little crystal lazer zone over there?"

"Not likely. We have to make sure that it's Aolong Dao first," Phoebe reasoned. "For all we know, this is just some irascible gardener who doesn't like trespassers."

"With those fingers?" Maria asked, motioning to the guy's hands.

"Plus, we need to know where he's got the girls," Phoebe replied.

Maria rolled her eyes. "Fine, whatever."

Piper looked from Phoebe to Maria. "Any more objections? Okay then." With that, Piper waved a hand and the guys came back to life. He lunged forward and hit a wall of blue light. He fell back in confusion, then saw Maria, Piper, and Phoebe standing in front of him.

"No! You won't take me again!" he yelled.

Maria knit her eyebrows. "Uh, guys? Is there something you want to tell me?"

Piper and Phoebe, however, looked equally puzzled. Phoebe shrugged. "Are you Aolong Dao?" she asked him.

"I will die before I submit to you again," he breathed. "I will regain my power, or I will see you in hell."

"Well, I think we can rule out irascible gardener as an option," Piper quipped. "Okay, just tell us where the girls are. We won't take you, we promise."

"We won't?" Maria asked.

Piper rolled her eyes. "Just go with me here," she whispered. "Tell us where the girls are, and we'll let you go free."

Aolong Dao, however, didn't seem convinced. "I have had enough of your promises. I will tell you nothing."

Piper sighed. "All right then, lets just do this. We can find the girls on our own." Phoebe pulled out a scrap of paper and a potion and handed the paper to Piper so that she and Maria could see it.

"Okay Maria, when I say go, move one of the crystals away from the others," Phoebe instructed. Maria's eyes widened. She was about to protest, but Phoebe silenced her with a look. "Trust me." Maria took a deep breath, centering herself, then nodded. "Okay, go!" Phoebe yelled. Maria threw out her arm and focused herself on the front crystal, sending as much wild energy as she could toward hurling it far away. The crystal went flying, and the blue energy field trapping Aolong Dao disappeared. Aolong Dao began to run toward them, but Phoebe hurled the potion at him the moment the magical cage vanished. He began to writhe around, gasping and yelling with fury. Maria heard Piper and Phoebe begin to recite the spell, and she hurried to join in:

_Demon of torture, pain and strife,_

_No more your damage in this life,_

_Be banished now by wind and rain,_

_Mine and furnace, forest and plain._

Aolong Dao began to spin violently, until he burst into flames and disappeared. Maria grinned at Phoebe and Piper. Piper smiled in return, but Phoebe looked confused. "That was weird," she said. "Who did he think we were?"

"No kidding," Maria replied. "And how did he know how to speak English? I thought he lived in medieval China." Piper smirked, but Maria went on, barely noticing. "Hey, it's a valid question. I mean, obviously he was up to something in the 600 years no one heard about him, but in our research, the guy didn't seem very interested in broadening his cultural horizons. I mean, he got his power from ancient Chinese ritual. _I_ think something took him away against his will." Phoebe looked intruiged, but Piper just dismissed the argument with a wave of her arm.

"Demons have rivalries with each other all the time. It's not our job to get it all sorted out. We see, we find, we vanquish. That's it. Now, don't you want to find the girls and get out of here? I know I do."

Maria followed Piper and Phoebe as they began to tromp through the bushes, but her mind lingered on the demon they had just vanquished. _'I will die before I submit to you again.' Submit to who? Why did he think we wanted to take him away? Why do I even care?_


	14. Endgame Arc: Bad, Badder, Baddest

**Aliens & Demons Pt. 14: The Endgame Arc – Bad, Badder, Baddest**

Author's Note: As suggested by the title, this chapter marks beginning of the Endgame Arc, which is intended to be the last part of the Aliens & Demons story. Who knows, I might write more stories in this universe, but as of right now, nothing is planned. I'll say it again once the story is finished, but I just want to take a moment to thank everyone who has taken the time to read and/or review this story. I know that I have been infrequent with updates most of the time, which makes me appreciate all the more those of you who have stayed with this story from its early, one short chapter every three months days. I hope I give this story as satisfying a payoff as you all deserve for sticking with it.

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Monday morning was painful. Coming home Sunday night hadn't been so fun either, but Monday morning was just _bad_. Maria, Phoebe, and Piper had gotten to the girls eventually, but it had taken a couple of hours worth of searching before they finally found them in an underground chamber almost directly over where they had vanquished Aolong Dao. Which meant that Maria had missed dinner by hours, and her mom had freaked out on her the moment she had walked through the door at 11:05. By the time the lecture was over, it was after 11:30, and Maria was in desperate need of a shower, so she didn't get to sleep until almost midnight. _I cannot take another of these late nights_, Maria thought, smothering a pillow over her head to drown out the sound of her alarm. _Two night in a row! Two nights in a frikkin row. I am so done with this. _

School wasn't much better. Liz still wasn't talking to her, which made Chem class really awkward. Plus, people had started to pair up for prom, and although Maria had a guy, she knew it would take some convincing to get Michael to agree to go. Isabel seemed to be eyeing Alex again following the whole demonic date-ditching, which was nice for them, but it meant that both of them were kind of distracted and, frankly, boring to hang out with. The weekend was over, and real life was kicking in in a major way.

Maria had thought she might find it a relief to be back in her normal world, devoid of any witchy problems for a while, but in this she was sorely disappointed. Everything felt weird now. For one thing, even her normal life wasn't normal. After all, Liz was giving her the silent treatment, and that was most definitely not normal. But even more, Maria found that the witch thing stayed with her during the day, taking any semblance of normal out of her. When she wasn't itching to get home and work on her powers, she was puzzling over the Aolong Dao vanquish or worrying that she was going to be called out of class at any moment to deal with some sudden crisis. It was like when she'd learned the whole alien secret, only now she didn't have a best friend to talk about it with.

Max and Michael were just about the only good things about her day, which was kind of ironic, considering that this time last year she would have considered them along with Isabel to be the cause of everything annoying in her life. But Max was what she needed at the moment, someone calm and empathetic who she could actually talk to about her weekend. And Michael must have sensed that something was up with her, because he was far less annoying than usual, and he even walked her to a couple of her classes, which he almost never did.

By the end of the day though, Maria was ready to hurry home and collapse on her bed. Unfortunately, she found herself being cornered by Andrea Russell right by the front of the school while walking out her car.

"Hey Maria," Andrea said, hurrying over and matching stride with Maria. Maria groaned inwardly. She was just not in the mood to deal with this girl right now.

"Look," Maria said, "I'm sorry, but I've been having a really crappy day. Can we talk later?"

Andrea's face fell, but she recovered quickly. "Sure," she replied. "But, um, since you can't talk, have you seen Isabel and Liz? Or Kyle, even? I just need to talk to them about a project I'm doing in . . .uh, history."

"Right," Maria said, nodding. "I remember, you borrowed Isabel's history book from Liz a couple days ago."

"Right!" Andrea grinned. "I just need to ask one of them a couple questions."

"Well, I haven't seen Liz since my last class with her, but I think Kyle usually goes straight home, and Isabel usually waits for Max by his locker."

"Okay, thanks Maria," Andrea said. "And sorry about your day so far. I hope it gets better." She grinned and blushed a little, then flitted off in the other direction.

"Yeah, thanks," Maria replied, feeling relieved when Andrea was gone. From there, she made a beeline to the Jetta and went straight home. As planned, she parked herself on the couch, glad beyond belief that she didn't have to work today. She kept wondering if Leo was going to show up and spirit her back to San Francisco, but no one called, orbed, or knocked on the door all afternoon. She tried to rearrange her room using her powers, but her bad mood seemed to be interfering. Nothing came out as strong as she wanted it to, so after a few minutes of struggling to get her curtains to close magically, she gave up.

At 5:07, Maria's cell phone rang. She stumbled off her bed and rummaged through her bag until she found it. She looked at the caller ID, than looked again. It was Liz. "Why is Liz calling me?" she wondered aloud. Then, realizing it would probably look bad if she didn't answer, Maria hurried to answer the call. "Liz?"

"Maria?" The voice sounded strained. Nervous and annoyed, sure, but also a little . . .worried? Was that it?

"Is everything all right, Liz?"

"I'm not sure. Have you seen Max? Or Michael? Or Isabel?"

Immediately, Maria's freak-out meter pumped up from yellow to orange. "Uh, not since after school," she replied. "Why? What happened?"

"Nothing happened. I just . . . can't find any of them. I called all their cells, Michael's apartment, the Evans house, Alex, I even called the Valentis. Nothing." She paused. "Look, I know were having some problems right now, but I'm starting to get really worried. If you know where they are . . ."

"I don't Liz, I swear. What about Tess? Is she still around?"

"No, the Sheriff said Kyle and Tess must have gone out after school, because he hasn't seen them since this morning."

"And that didn't send off warning bells for you?" Maria asked.

"Yes, it did, which I why I'm calling you now," Liz replied, sounding a little affronted. "I just figured, you know, it would be a little weird if all of them went off and took Kyle and not any of the rest of us."

"So Alex is still at home?"

"Yeah, he's fine. He got a little worried when I told him I couldn't find Isabel, though."

"Well, I've been hanging out with Michael and Max all day, and they didn't mention any kind of alien powwow. They didn't seem nervous or anything either. I don't think they were planning anything big for today, Liz. Or at least, if they were, they hid it amazingly well." Maria paused. "Liz, what if they – what if something took them?" She waited for a reply, but none came. "Liz? Liz, are you there? Hello?" Nothing. It was like she had hung up, but there was no dial tone, and Maria hadn't heard the telltale click that would indicate a hang-up. Maria stared at the phone for a moment more. "Ohmigodohmigodohmigod," Maria muttered. She looked around and contemplated going to Liz's in the Jetta. No, that would take too long, and besides, Mom would kill her if she found her MIA again. So she did the next thing that came to mind. "Leo! Leo, get over here now."

Moments later, Leo orbed into the room. "What's wrong? Did something attack?"

"I don't know, but I was just on the phone with my friend Liz, and she disappeared."

Leo squinted at her. "How do you know she disappeared if you were just on the phone with her?"

"She just stopped talking right in the middle of the call, and I know she wouldn't have just done that because she was really worried about some of our other friends, and-" Maria stopped short. "Look, I just need you to take me over there right now."

Leo was silent for another moment, during which Maria felt like she might explode. "Where?" he finally asked.

"The Crashdown," Maria replied. "But we'll have to be careful. Her parents will probably be around." Leo sighed and then grabbed her arm, but Maria pulled away. "Wait." She locked her bedroom door, then turned on her stereo. _Now Mom doesn't even have to know._ "Okay, lets go." Maria grabbed Leo's shoulder and let herself be swept up in his orb cloud.

Moments later, she was in the alley behind the Crashdown. "Come with me," Maria said, pulling Leo toward the entrance. She hurried inside and saw Liz's dad working the grill. "Hey, Mr. Parker," she said, a little breathless.

"Hi Maria," he said. "Have you seen Michael today? He was supposed to work, but he hasn't come in."

Maria's shoulders sagged. _And the bad just keeps getting badder._ "Sorry. I think he might have been feeling sick. He probably went back to his apartment after school and blanked on work. Anyway," she pushed on, not giving him time to reply, "Can I go up to Liz's room? I left my Chem notes with her, but now my tutor's here," she motioned to Leo, "and I need the notes."

Mr. Parker gave her a small smile. "Sure Maria, go on up."

"Thanks," she said, racing past and taking the stairs two at a time. "Liz? Liz, are you up here?" No reply. Maria entered Liz's room, barely registering Leo's presence behind her. The room was silent except for a low, impersonal droning noise. Maria moved toward the source of the noise and found it on Liz's bed. It was her phone, still on. If Maria didn't know better, she would have thought Liz had set the phone down for a minute to get a drink or go to the bathroom.

Everything in the room was neat, as usual. Liz's sheets were rumpled, but other than that there were no signs of a struggle. Windows closed, desk still neatly set up to do English homework. "Oh God," Maria whispered. She scanned the room for anything that might offer some kind of hint as to what might have happened, but there was nothing. "What – how –" Maria couldn't form the words.

Leo ran a hand up and down Maria's back. "It's okay. We'll find whatever did this," he said, but for once, his presence didn't comfort her. Because Maria knew, with just as much certainty as she knew that Liz hadn't stepped out of her room to get a drink, that Leo couldn't help her. This wasn't just Liz. It was Liz, Michael (_Michael!_), Max, Isabel, probably Tess, maybe Kyle, maybe even Alex by now. This wasn't a demon problem. Or a human one, for that matter. It was something alien.

_They're going to come for me too,_ Maria realized with a start. _If they're taking Liz, it means they're not just taking aliens. They're taking all of us. Whoever it is is trying to get all of us. And that means me too._ "Leo, give me a minute alone, all right?" Maria asked. "Just . . . go to the bathroom or something." As she expected, he cast her a worried glance, but at her look, left the room.

Once he was out the door, Maria fumbled for her cell phone and jammed in number two on her speed dial. She heard the mechanical beeping of the number being dialed, and then a blessedly familiar voice came on the line. "Hello?"

"Alex!" Maria exclaimed, grinning with relief, her eyes filling with tears. "You're okay."

"Uh, yeah. Why wouldn't I be? What's going on, Maria?" Maria had probably had people ask her what was going on with her more times in the past week than she had in the entire rest of the year, but now, for the first time in a long time, the question sounded like it contained genuine worry rather than a veiled accusation. It was so nice, so unassuming, so . . . _Alex_ that Maria couldn't hold herself back any longer. She dissolved into tears, sinking down onto Liz's empty bed.

"Everyone's gone, Alex. Max, Michael, Liz, Isabel, Tess, probably Kyle . . . we're the only ones left. But I think –" Maria broke off for a moment, trying desperately to control her tears, "I think they're coming for us too."

"What? Wha- who's coming for us? Why?"

Maria rested her forehead on the hand that wasn't clutching her cell phone. "I don't know! I was just talking to Liz, and she was worried because she couldn't get a hold of anyone but you and I and Sheriff Valenti. God, we were just talking and I was saying something and when I stopped, she wasn't there anymore, but I could tell that she didn't hang up, and so I came here to her house, and she's gone."

"Okay, so the Sheriff's all right too? Does he know about any of this?" Alex asked.

"No. I don't think so."

Alex took a deep breath. "All right, so I'll call him. You just . . . stay there. Whoever they are, they've already been there, so you're probably safer there than anywhere else."

Maria let out a dry laugh. "I can't just _stay_ here Alex. I told Mr. Parker I was just here to get some Chemistry notes. Unless you want me to tell him . . ."

"No, never mind. Just find someplace safe."

"I think I know somewhere I can go," Maria thought, picturing Halliwell manor, full of powerful witches and far away from Roswell.

"Good. I'll call you right back after I've talked to Valenti." He paused. "Don't worry Maria. You're gonna be okay. We're all gonna be okay." Maria smiled, knowing that Alex was referring to more than just the two of them.

"Thanks Alex," she said, sniffling. "Be careful, okay?"

"I will. Bye."

"Bye." Maria heard the click of the line being disconnected, and she set her phone down slowly, ending the call on her side and staring at the phone. She had been worked up talking to Alex, but sitting here now was worse. For all she knew, Alex had been taken the second he had hung up the phone. For all intents and purposes, she was alone.

_Michael_. God, why didn't she ever appreciate Michael while he was here? Now, he could be anywhere. He could even be dead. _No. Not thinking that. I am not thinking that._ And Liz. She might never see her again, and the last thing Liz would think about Maria was that she didn't trust her. Maria was trying to think positive thoughts when she heard a knock on the door.

"Maria? Can I come in again?" Leo asked.

Maria trudged over to the door and opened it. "I need to go to the manor," she said flatly. "And I'm bringing somebody with me."

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"No Maria. I'm sorry, but you can't. I know you're worried, but you can't tell anyone else. Remember that promise you made to Phoebe and I yesterday?" Leo asked as they walked out of the Crashdown and down the street.

"I wouldn't have to tell him, exactly. I could just say that you're a really fast driver and get him to keep his eyes closed for a while." Leo stared at her. "Okay, fine, yes, I would have to tell him. But this is more important, Leo. His life could be in danger."

"How do you know that? Just because Liz is gone doesn't mean any of your other friends are in danger."

Maria paused. She contemplated continuing on the whole super-protective friend tack, but decided almost immediately that there wasn't time. All of her friends were in jeopardy here. She was just going to have to do some truth-telling. If they came out of this alive, Max could kill her later. "It's not just Liz."

Leo stopped in the middle of the sidewalk. "What?"

"When Liz called me, it was because she couldn't reach anyone but Alex and I. And now, with Liz gone, well, I think my other friends are too."

"Just how many people are we talking about here?" Leo asked.

"Well, there's Liz, Michael, Max, Isabel, Tess, and Kyle, so that's six." Maria paused. "But you shouldn't bother trying to find a demon that would do this. It isn't a demon that took them."

Leo scrunched up his eyes. "What do you think it was, then?"

"Aliens. Now don't say anything. I know how crazy it sounds, and I want to explain, but we really need to get Alex safe first. Besides, it would be easier just to do this once."

Leo stared at her, and for one horrible moment, she thought he might refuse to take her to Alex's. Then he sighed, and Maria knew she had won. "There had better be a really good explanation for this," he said, sweeping her into an orb cloud.

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The first thing Maria saw when she reformed was Alex's shocked face. "Alex, it's okay," she began, holding her hands up. "It's me. Just let me take your hand. I promise I'll explain everything in a minute." She held out a hand. Alex stared at it, then stared up at her. Maria could see the conflicting emotions playing across his face.

"What did I get you for Christmas in sixth grade?" he asked, eyeing her.

Maria felt like rolling her eyes, but she refrained since she knew he was just trying to keep from being kidnapped by aliens. "You and Liz pooled your money and got me a pair of roller skates," she replied, softening at the memory. "Now come on."

Alex looked at her again, studying her face for signs of deception. "Where are you going to take me?" he asked finally.

Maria smiled and took his hand, putting her other one on Leo's arm. "Someplace safe."


	15. Endgame Arc: What Phoebe Saw

**Aliens & Demons Pt. 15: The Endgame Arc – What Phoebe Saw**

"Okay, either I've officially gone insane, or you have a lot of explaining to do. _What_ is going on Maria?" Alex asked the moment they had appeared in the Halliwell living room. Maria sighed inwardly. _Make that 1,001 times someone's asked me what's going on in the past week,_ she thought.

"I'm gonna have to agree with this guy," Phoebe said, giving Maria a hard stare. "I thought we had an agreement on this."

"Look, I know, I promised. Flog me later," Maria replied. "But this was important. His life could have been in danger."

"Explain," Piper said, crossing her arms.

"Yeah, yeah. Can I just talk to Alex first? I think I've spent enough time making excuses to my friends. He should know what's going on."

Phoebe looked like she wanted to reply, but Leo spoke first. "Just make it quick, Maria."

Maria shot Leo a brief smile, then turned to face Alex. "Okay, this is going to sound a little weird."

"After everything I've seen in the past year – or the past hour, actually – I think I can handle weird," Alex said.

"Right. Well, I'm a witch. Phoebe and Piper," Maria motioned to the sisters, "are witches too, and Leo is our guardian angel, and I have magic powers and I vanquish demons." Maria paused.

"That's a little weird," he said.

"Look, it's not like this is some deep dark secret that I've been keeping from you all this time, Alex. All this happened less than a week ago. And I would have told you. I'm just not really supposed to tell anyone, which is why Piper and Phoebe are so mad at me at the moment."

"Actually, there's also the fact that you promised us you wouldn't tell anyone else without talking to us first," Phoebe broke in. Maria flinched. There was none of that nurturing, sister-witch attitude in Phoebe's voice right now. She was _pissed_.

"Anyone _else_?" Alex asked. "Who else knows? Liz? Michael?"

"Max, actually," Maria replied. "He saw me use my powers and thought I was a shapeshifter, so in the interest of not becoming alien enemy number one, I told him."

"And with that," Leo said, "I think it's time for you to explain a few things to _us_. You said something about aliens when you were trying to get me to bring Alex here too. And I, for one, would like to know why you seem so convinced that creatures from outer space are trying to kidnap you."

Maria rolled her eyes. "Well, it sounds stupid when you say it like that." She turned back to Alex. "Are we okay?"

Alex gave her a small smile. "Yeah," he said. "I'm just . . . digesting."

Maria allowed herself to break into a brief grin. "Good. Because I'm going to need all the help I can get here." She turned back to Leo, Phoebe, and Piper, who were watching her expectantly.

"Now, I'm going to tell you guys something that you're probably not going to want to believe," she began.

"You going to say that aliens exist, right?" Phoebe asked, raising her eyebrows. "I don't buy it."

"Of course you don't." Maria replied. "Neither did we, at first."

"You expect us to believe that you have proof of the existence of aliens?" Leo asked.

"Proof?" Maria scoffed. "I'm currently dating one. Not that you guys are going to buy that, seeing as how I don't exactly have said boyfriend to produce at the moment. Look, I know this is going to sound ridiculous, but you know what? I'm going to say it anyway. Our friends Max, Michael, Isabel, and Tess – if you could really call Tess a friend, that is – they were in the Roswell crash. They were in these pods, and they came out years later looking like human kids – don't ask me what year that was, I suck at math – and now they look like normal teenagers. Only they're not, they're half alien and they come from some other planet and they have powers. Did I leave anything out, Alex?"

"You're telling your witch friends about our alien friends who have been kidnapped by evil aliens, or possibly evil demons. Sorry, still processing."

"I'll take that as a no," Maria said. She watched Leo, Piper, and Phoebe, trying to determine what degree of crazy they thought she was now. "So . . ."

"Your best friends with aliens? Is this a joke?" Piper asked, raising her eyebrows.

"No, Piper, it's not. See, Max has been into my friend Liz, since, like, the beginning of time, and one day a couple years ago she got shot by some psycho at the Crashdown, and she was going to die, but Max healed her, because he can do that. So then he had to tell her, and she told me, and a few months later she told Alex too. And ever since then, our lives have been weird beyond belief, and there have been shapeshifters, and people who shed their own skin and evil blue alien crystal queens coming after them, which is why I think an alien rather than a demon did this."

"Uh, yeah," Alex piped in. _About dang time_, Maria thought giving him a greatful smile. _A couple more minutes and I would have been going on about the woes of dating a teenage Starman._ "Look, I don't know much about you guys or your relationship with Maria," Alex continued, "but if you know her at all, then you know that she wouldn't risk her friends' lives by lying. Everything she said right now is true." He put his arm around her.

"Thanks," Maria whispered, resting her head on his shoulder.

Phoebe was the first to speak. "If this is true, why didn't you tell us before?"

"Phoebe!" Piper exclaimed. "Don't tell me you believe all of this. They're talking about aliens."

Phoebe turned to her sister. "A few years ago, we got magical powers. We know that demons exist, and warlocks, and ghosts. We've even met Cupid! I don't know, aliens just don't seem like such a stretch, all of a sudden. I mean, it always seemed weird to me that Maria got used to the whole witch thing so quickly. Now, I know why. Yeah, aliens are a little . . . different from the stuff we normally deal with. But I think I believe her."

Piper eyed her sister, then turned to look at Leo. "And what do you think? Are you buying this whole E.T. thing?"

"Well . . ." Leo appeared to be choosing his words carefully. "I guess I am. We know supernatural things exist. Why not extraterrestrials? I mean, maybe asking people to believe weird stuff all the time has made me too easy to convince, but I saw how convinced Maria was that Alex was in immediate danger. That wasn't a joke. And we can't deny that her friends have been taken without any demon showing its face."

Piper sighed. She looked at Maria, who returned her stare, waiting hopefully. "Aliens? Really?" she asked finally.

"Yeah." Maria replied, nodding, never breaking eye contact.

"All right, fine. I guess I believe you too."

Maria squeezed Alex's waist, and allowed herself to breathe again. Then her eyes caught Phoebe's, and the two of them grinned almost simultaneously. "So," Maria said, "You guys met Cupid? What was that about?"

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Phoebe smiled. "Good story, actually," she said. "I'll tell you about it once we've saved your friends." Then she straightened up, trying to push aside the weirdness of teenage aliens and focus on the problem at hand. "Now," she said, lightly touching Maria's forearm, "What do-"

Suddenly, the manor and everyone in it was gone, replaced by the vision that assailed Phoebe's mind. She was in complete darkness, able to see only a thick metal rod with other strange pieces of metal sticking out of it. She tried to memorize the shapes cutting into the rod so that she could figure out what they were later. A thin metal pole sticking straight up, a sheet of metal bisecting the right side of the rod, a wheel surrounding, attached to the rod by three thin poles.

Just as Phoebe had gotten the image sorted out, it began to shift. First, the pole sticking up went down straight through the middle of the rod until it was sticking down from the bottom. Then, the piece of metal shifted from the right half of the rod to the left. Finally, the wheel turned around in one full turn. Then, Phoebe's vision shifted again and she was outside looking at a wall with a circular green gem on it, glowing. The vision was still for a moment, and then the manor came back to her as quickly as it had disappeared.

"What did you see?" The voice was Leo's. Phoebe turned to survey everyone's faces. Piper and Leo looked curious but unconcerned, while Maria looked shaken and Alex looked a little shocked. Phoebe gave them a brief half smile, hoping it would be enough to reassure them.

"It was weird. It was just this big metal rod with some things sticking through it. Then the things sort of moved, and all of a sudden I was looking at a wall with some kind of glowing green crystal on it."

"Things that sort of moved? What's that supposed to mean?" Piper asked, looking annoyed. "I mean, your visions are sometimes vague, but come on. A big metal rod and a green crystal? What are we supposed to do with that?"

"I don't know." Phoebe shrugged. "But I got it when I touched Maria, so maybe it has something to do with her missing friends."

"I hope so," Piper replied. "We have enough to deal with without adding some other supernatural issue to the mix."

"I don't disagree," Phoebe said. "For now, I think we should just-" But for the second time in five minutes, Phoebe's words were cut off as she was torn away from the manor. Only this time, there was no vision, and Phoebe realized with a start that she really was being torn away from the manor. Moments later, she was back on solid ground again, but the manor was nowhere to be found.


	16. Endgame Arc: Labyrinth

**Aliens & Demons Pt. 16: The Endgame Arc – Labyrinth**

"What. The. _Hell_. Was. That?" Phoebe heard after landing. _Definitely Piper. Okay, so at least I'm not alone,_ Phoebe thought, looking around her to see that Piper and Maria had both arrived behind her. They were now all standing in a large white expanse of floor and walls. That is, white floor, huge white walls, and white mist hanging above, impeding any possible view of the ceiling or sky.

"The white room?" Maria's whispered. She looked terrified.

Phoebe frowned. "What's the white room?"

Maria hesitated, then replied. "The Special Unit of the FBI took Max there and did all these experiments on him last year," she explained. "Michael, Isabel, Liz and Tess broke him out."

"Maybe I don't want to know the answer to this, but what's the Special Unit?" Phoebe asked.

Maria paused, looking around fretfully as if she expected to see someone listening in. "They were this branch of the FBI that was investigating the crash and the aliens. They got shut down last year, with a little help from some alien voodoo."

"All right, I hate to break up the paranoia parade over there, but I don't think the government brought us here," Piper said. "Whatever brought us here did it magically, or maybe with alien powers." She rolled her eyes as she said this, clearly not yet used to treating aliens as a fact of life. "Did you guys even _see_ the mist hanging over us? I don't think were in a government facility."

Maria looked above her. "I guess you're right," she admitted. "So, where are we then?"

Piper grunted. "Hell if I know."

"Maybe we should look around a little," Phoebe suggested.

"At what?" Piper asked. "From what I can see, it's all white walls and creepy mist."

"All the more reason to explore. I mean, there must be more here, right?" Phoebe asked.

"I guess," Piper said, shrugging. "If nothing else, I suppose we can see whether we've been trapped or just dropped in the middle of nowhere." She began walking, heading around the corner of one of the walls. Phoebe followed, with Maria close behind. They didn't encounter anything other than more white walls, but they didn't find any dead ends either.

"So," Phoebe said after a couple minutes, "why do you think we're here? I mean, who would want to do this?"

Maria seemed to take this as an opening to vent everything that had been running through her head since they had been pulled from the manor. "See, that's what I don't get," she began. "If it's aliens, why take the three of us instead of Alex and I? It makes no sense. And if it's demons, why now? I mean, here we are, trying to focus on something other than them for once, and they butt in! What is with that?"

Phoebe smirked. "I don't know, I think the fact that we aren't on a demon hunt right now would be a pretty good reason for them to strike. They'll take any opening to attack, trust me."

Maria sighed. "Still, I don't see why – whoa!"

Phoebe's head snapped up, and she saw that a very veiny demon had come up in front of them, preparing to throw a fireball. "Piper, freeze it!" Phoebe saw Piper's hands shoot out in front of her, but strangely, veiny guy didn't freeze. Instead, he screamed in apparent agony and exploded right in front of them. _Exploded._ "How did that happen?" Phoebe asked.

"I think – I think that was me," Piper said, turning around, her eyes squinted in confusion. "I felt something."

"You think it's a new power?" Phoebe asked. She couldn't say she hadn't been expecting it for some time – after all, Prue had developed a second power, and it made sense that Piper would come next – but it hadn't exactly been the first thing on her mind with all that had been going on.

"I don't know. Exploding things?" Piper asked.

"Cool power," Maria commented. Both sisters turned to look at her. "What? She can freeze time _and_ blow things up. All I can do so far is throw things around. It's not my fault I have power envy."

Phoebe smiled. "Just a week, and you're already a jaded witch. Tragic. Now come on, we have to figure out who that guy was."

"I'm thinking pissed off demon," Piper said.

"Just one? If there's one, there must be more around, right?" Phoebe asked.

Piper shrugged, a hint of a smile on her face. "If there are, I'll just blow 'em up."

Phoebe smirked. "That'll keep us safe for a while, but it doesn't solve the bigger problem. We still don't know where we are, what we're doing here, or why there are apparently demons running around. I wish I had some of those crystals I got for the Aolong Dao vanquish so we could trap one of them and make it talk."

"Ask and ye shall receive." The voice seemed to come from out of nowhere. All three girls flipped around simultaneously.

"Melissa?" Phoebe exclaimed at the same time Maria cried: "Andrea?"

Melissa/Andrea smiled. Her face was bright and serene, and her all white ensemble seemed to blend into the white background of the twisting hallways the girls had been exploring. Just another part of the scenery. Well, almost. "Hi Phoebe, Maria. Piper, I don't think we've met, so hello to you. And Ria? Feebs? Sorry to break it to you, but you're both wrong. My name isn't Melissa Howard or Andrea Russell. It's Saffron Price. Sorry for the confusion."

"You brought us here!" Maria exclaimed, staring at Melissa-now-Saffron in amazement. "Why? Who are you?"

Saffron rolled her eyes in bright amusement, looking nothing like the unassuming shop girl Phoebe knew or, most likely, this Andrea that Maria had recognized her as. "Didn't I just tell you, girlie? I'm Saffron Price. I recognize that this is a big adjustment for you, but I would appreciate it if listened more carefully from now on. Anyway, I'm just here to give you these." She held three blue crystals out to Phoebe. There was a moment of silence, then Piper spoke.

"Okay, I don't know you, so I'm not quite as speechless as these two," she broke in. "What is going on? Why are we here?"

Saffron smiled a faux-apologetic smile. "Sorry, this really isn't the time or the place for that. I'm only authorized to give you the aid you requested."

"How about some vanquishing potions, then?" Piper asked. "Or Leo?"

"Sorry honey. You only get one aid, and this is it. We can't make it too easy, can we?" Saffron smirked.

"Make what too easy?" Phoebe asked, snatching the crystals out of Saffron's hand. If she was going to offer them help, Phoebe was going to take it, no matter how weird and disconcerting a context it was offered in. Especially if this was all they got.

"Don't worry about that yet. Just do what comes naturally to you. The faster you adapt, the easier this will be on all of us," Saffron said.

"Did you take my friends too?" Maria asked, raising her head to meet Saffron's eyes. "Is that why – why you were looking for them earlier today?"

Saffron smiled. "Nice. You're not as slow as you seemed at first. At least, not quite."

Maria frowned, her lips pursing. "Is this about them? Or is it about us? At least tell us that, _Saffron_."

"Maria, sweetheart, it's about all of you. Witches and aliens alike. Plain old humans need not apply."

"I don't know if you know this or not, but Liz and Kyle are human. As is Alex by the way, so don't even think about touching him. So, why don't you just let them go?" Maria asked.

"They were healed. They're not exactly _plain_ old humans anymore, now are they?" Saffron asked. "Anyway, it's been fun chatting, but I've gotta go. Have fun in here, girls!" She flashed them one last toothy smile and disappeared behind one of the white walls. Phoebe sprang into action, racing around the corner, but Saffron was no longer there.

Phoebe sighed. "She must have some special way of getting out," she said. She looked at Piper and Maria. Piper was very obviously annoyed, but Phoebe couldn't read Maria's expression. "Are you all right?" She asked, coming a little closer. "How did you know her?"

"She goes to my school. Or I thought she did, anyway. She came up to me after school today, looking for Liz, Isabel, and Kyle. She said it was for a history project. I told her to look for Isabel by Max's locker." Maria looked down.

Phoebe gave Maria a short hug. "You couldn't have known. I sure didn't. I thought I knew her too. She worked at the magic shop I usually go to. I thought she was the daughter of the owner, but I guess that was just a cover. I just don't get it though. Why spy on us? Why take us?"

"I don't know, but I don't like this," Piper said. "Leo would have come by now if he could, so we must be somewhere where he can't sense us."

"That's right," Phoebe said, her eyes widening.

"So, what now?" Maria asked.

Phoebe looked at Piper and Maria. "I think we should keep exploring. Saffron told us we should do what comes naturally. Not that I trust Jiminy Creepy to look out for our best interest, but she seems to want something from us. Maybe if we give it to her or them or whatever they'll leave us alone."

"Come on Phoebe, that would be way too easy." Piper said. "She probably just wants us to go looking around so that we can find some horrible demon that will kill us and use our innards to harness the power of the Charmed Ones."

"You're a very 'up' person," Maria commented. "I think I agree with Phoebe. If we stay here, one of two things will happen. A: demons find us and we have to fight them anyway. B: We stand here doing nothing until we starve to our miserable, premature deaths."

"And you say I'm depressing," Piper retorted. "Okay, lets go on then."

"All right," Phoebe said. "Just . . . keep your hands in front of you, okay sis?"


	17. Endgame Arc: So Much for the Afterglow

**Aliens & Demons Pt. 17: The Endgame Arc - So Much for the Afterglow**

"I don't get it. How did they disappear?"

"I told you, Alex, I don't know." Leo replied, sounding a little annoyed. "Just be patient and let me think, okay? And if you have any ideas about what could have happened, feel free to offer them up."

Alex sighed and plopped down on the couch. "Sorry," he muttered. He supposed he should be using the time to think of alien things that could be responsible for Maria's sudden disappearance – Maria and Phoebe and Pippi or Pipper or whatever her name was. But really, Alex had nothing. There was the Special Unit, but that had been disbanded, and he didn't think they could have done it anyway. Nasedo, but he was dead. The gandarium crystals, but they were gone too. The skins, but again - deep-fried dead, at least as far as he knew.

But then, what did he really know about alien threats? He had never been very in the loop as far as that stuff went, and the trip to Sweden had just made things worse on that front. Even the stuff he did know, he only understood half of. Alex had enough self-esteem to be aware that he had his good points, but alien mythology wasn't on his list of strengths. He was just not the right guy to be doing this. It was as simple as that.

_But then, I wouldn't have thought Maria was either, would I?_ In general, Alex had put his faith in Liz, rather than Maria, to be helpful in a crisis_. But here she is, going about her secret life. Peter Parker to the aliens' collective Clark Kent. Batman to their Fantastic Four. Co-conspirator in the Super Friends, the League of Justice, protectors of –_ Alex cut himself off. This comic book nerd-out was way too Alex-of-sophomore-year. He should be above this now.

He should also be focusing on the matter at hand. Alien threats. Right.

"Yeah, I've got nothing," Alex admitted. "Nothing that would be helpful, at least."

"Who's he?" a voice behind Alex asked. Alex looked up. Leo was still in front of him. And there wasn't anyone else in the house, was there? Alex snapped his head around, looking over the back of the couch.

"Holy –" Alex squirmed down the couch away from the tall, dark, and threatening guy who had appeared behind it; then he jumped up off the couch and backstepped across the room.

Leo sighed. "Hi, Cole. This is Alex. He's one of Maria's friends. Alex, Cole is Phoebe's boyfriend."

"But how did he . . ." Alex trailed off, letting the question hang unfinished.

"Demon. Former," Cole explained. Or non-explained, in Alex's opinion. _Former demon? That's all I get? Anyone gonna elaborate on that?_ At Leo's annoyed look, Cole spoke again. "Sorry. Did he not know? I just assumed, since he was here, that he knew already."

"He knows," Leo replied. "But we have more important things to worry about. Some force pulled the girls away from the manor, and now I can't sense them."

"What?" Cole asked, sounding more perturbed. Alex walked gingerly back to the couch and sat down again. He wasn't any less worried about Mr. Former Demon than he had been, but at least this guy wasn't treating Alex like a mildly amusing chew toy anymore, which meant in Alex's experience that Cole probably wasn't going to bother another look at him for a while.

Alex was right. Cole's attention was fully focused on Leo now as he explained what had happened, from Maria calling Leo after she became convinced Liz had been taken (Alex listened to this with interest, because this part of the story was new to him) to the moment when Maria, Phoebe, and Pippi McWhatsHerName had disappeared.

"I'll go look for them," Cole immediately volunteered when Leo had finished. "I can go down to the Underworld, shake up a few demons. Whoever it is can't hide from everyone."

"You do realize that everything you just said sounds like it came from a 30's noir?" Alex asked. Cole shot him a stony look, making Alex sorry he had opened his mouth. "Sorry. Don't mind the measly human."

"Wait, Cole. Maybe you should stay here and –" Leo stopped, and Alex saw that Cole had disappeared again.

Leo sighed. "Or you could leave now, even though we have no idea what happened or where to start looking for Piper, Phoebe and Maria," he said, more to himself than to Alex. _Piper! That was her name,_ Alex thought, smiling a little despite himself.

"Look," Alex began, "not that I don't appreciate being rescued from possible kidnap by aliens, because believe me, I do, but how long am I going to be here? My parents are going to be really upset when they find out I'm gone."

"Sorry Alex. I can't take you home until I know that you'll be safe, and right now I can't know that. Besides, with Cole off following his own leads, I'm going to need all the help I can get to find the girls.

_Right. Find Maria. Remember her, buddy? Fun, slightly neurotic, recently saved your ass?_ Alex rested his head on the back of the couch. Maybe this was all for the good of others, but his parents were going to kill him.

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"Okay, we've been at this for hours, and we're still no closer to . . . anything. I vote we take a break," Maria said.

"It has _not_ been hours," Phoebe replied. "It's been more like half an hour, and if nothing else, Piper's getting a handle on her new power." That, at least, was true, although it hadn't helped them much so far. Each time they had encountered a demon, Piper had tried to freeze it so Phoebe could set up a crystal cage, but so far, Piper had been unable to go back to using her freezing power. Every time she tried, another demon went boom.

"Still, it's not getting us anywhere, and I'm wearing completely the wrong shoes for this kind of thing," Maria replied.

"Piper?" Phoebe asked, turning to her sister.

"Sorry Phoebe, but I'm just as bored with this as Maria is," Piper said.

Phoebe sighed. "Fine, lets stop for a while. How about we just check out the area around here to make sure no demons are about to pop out at us, all right?"

Piper and Maria nodded agreement, and the girls walked a little way down one of the area's uniform white halls.

"Well, nothing down this way," Piper said, beginning to turn around.

"Wait!" Maria said, spotting a glint of green down the hallway. "I think there's something over there, on one of the walls." She craned her neck, looking out on another fairly open space.

Phoebe came around from behind her and moved closer. "Hey you guys, I recognize that thing. It's the green crystal from my vision!" She and Piper approached the green object, and Maria tentatively followed behind. As they got closer, Maria could see that the green thing was, as Phoebe has guessed, a crystal, attached to about four feet up one of the white walls.

Maria reached out to touch it.

"Hold on," Phoebe cautioned, lifting an arm in front of Maria to stop her. "Lets figure out what this means."

"Right," Piper assented. "So you said your vision had to do with some kind of metal pole moving around behind the wall, right?"

"It wasn't moving, though. I mean, it _moved_, but . . ." Phoebe paused, "I think it only moved in my vision to show me what I was supposed to do when I found it."

"How do you know that?" Piper asked.

Phoebe shrugged. "Just a feeling." Piper groaned, and for once, Maria felt like joining in.

"Couldn't you be completely wrong though, and it's actually showing you what you have to stop from happening, or what shouldn't ever happen, under any circumstances?" Maria pointed out.

"Look, I can't guarantee you guys that I'm interpreting what I felt correctly," Phoebe admitted. "But this is my power. I've gotten pretty good at reading what it's trying to tell me. And we've always done best when we trusted our instincts before, right?" she asked, looking Piper straight in the eye.

Piper returned her gaze. "Fine, so let's say your right. How do we get the metal pole thing, which I should remind you is _inside the wall_, to move the way it did in your vision?"

There was a moment of silence. Even Phoebe didn't have an answer. Maria though, had fallen into a frenzy of speculation. _Couldn't I move it?_ she wondered. _But how would I move something I can't see? Something I can't even picture? God, being able to dreamwalk would be really handy right about now. I mean, if I could somehow see into Phoebe's mind and see her vision, maybe I could-_

"Hey Phoebe?" Maria asked, breaking the silence.

"Yeah?" Phoebe asked.

Maria paused, then posed her question. "Can you – can you let other people see your visions?"

Phoebe just stared at her. "I've never really tried before. Why?"

But this time it was Piper, rather than Maria, who spoke. "I think she figures that you could show her the vision and then she could move the . . . rod – bar – whatever it is – according to what she sees."

Recognition dawned in Phoebe's eyes. "I got my original premonition off of Maria herself," she realized. Then she grinned. "Lets try it." Phoebe closed her eyes, her brow wrinkling in concentration. Then she reached a hand out and touched Maria's arm. Maria got the disorienting feeling of being pulled, not to a different place but to a different moment in time, and then the metal rod Phoebe had mentioned was right in front of her, and in an instant Maria knew what she was supposed to do.

Maria held out a hand and focused her power first on the pole sticking out of the far end of the rod. She pushed it down using her powers, finding it surprisingly easy to move, as easy as fitting a key into the right lock. Then she shifted her focus to the sheet of metal further forward, moving it so that it was bisecting the left half of the pole rather than the right. Finally, she centered in on the wheel, using telekinesis to turn it one full turn. Then the vision rocketed her outward, and for a moment she was staring again at the green crystal, which was now glowing.

Then the vision disappeared, and she was next to Piper and Phoebe again. She looked up and realized that she was holding her arm up just as she had been in the vision and the crystal on the wall was now glowing furiously. "Did I do that?" she asked.

"Yep," Piper replied, smiling, "I think you did."

All three girls stared at the glowing crystal, waiting to see what it would do. It's glowing mounted in intensity, and then there was a click as the wall opened.

Maria stepped back in surprise.

"Well," Phoebe said, "it looks like we've found the secret passageway. Shall we Nancy-Drew our way out of here?"

"Sounds good to me," Piper said.

"Ditto," Maria said as they stepped out of the white corridors and into somewhere completely different.


	18. Endgame Arc: Out of the Frying Pan

**Aliens & Demons Pt. 18: The Endgame Arc – Out of the Frying Pan . . .**

Author's Note: All right. Mea culpa. If anyone noticed some major continuity issues concerning the development of Piper's powers in this story versus in the series, be aware that I'm aware of it and that although it's too late to correct it at this stage in the game without completely screwing with the storyline, I am most sorry. If you haven't re-watched season 3 lately and therefore didn't notice anything amiss, just move along. Nothing to see here.

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"How did you get out?" a voice asked, and Maria turned to see two faces, both women, turning to look at the girls in surprise. Both were wearing lab coats. Neither was Andrea-slash-Saffron, much to Maria's disappointment. She would have loved to TK the girl across the room right about now. But no such luck. So in lieu of a good cathartic bout of revenge, Maria examined her new surroundings. They were cool and clinical, more like a lab or a hospital room than an evil lair. _Weird,_ Maria mused. _And rather disturbing._

"I think you owe us an explanation," Piper said.

"We don't owe you anything," one of the women replied indignantly, reaching for a button on a computer console near her.

Piper's arms were raised before the woman could get any farther. "I wouldn't do that if I were you," she warned. "I'll try to freeze you, but I'm not so good at switching between freezing things and blowing them up yet, so . . ."

The woman cast a nervous glance down at Piper's ready hands, then moved her hand away from the console. "Of course. We wouldn't want to do anything rash," she said. She sounded nervous. "Just . . . calm down."

"Dr. Marshall?" the voice of the second, younger woman chimed in. "Are we cooperating with the subjects?" She sounded surprised.

"Subjects?" Piper raised her eyebrows. "Well, thanks. And what are we subjects for?"

Dr. Marshall shot a glare at the other woman. "Just don't make any sudden movements, Dr. Valera. We don't want to give them cause to harm us."

"Hello? Still in the room," Maria chimed in, annoyed. She began to cross her arms, but quickly uncrossed them when she saw Dr. Valera's eyes following her hands. _Probably best to keep my power hands at the ready,_ she thought.

"Dr. Marshall, the project comes before our personal safety, you know that. We have to call –" Dr. Valera jumped in again.

Piper's hands sprang into motion, obliterating the computer behind Dr. Valera. "Sorry," she said. Then she flung her hands out twice more, blowing up both of the other computers in the room. "Guess it's just us now."

Dr. Marshall closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Dr. Valera, that is why we do not give away information regarding _any aspect_ of the project in the presence of subjects. Now, let's try not to compromise the project any more, shall we?"

"You got told," Phoebe cracked, smirking at Dr. Valera. "How old are you, anyway? Twenty-three?" Dr. Valera just glared at Phoebe, but Phoebe was looking down at the desk beside her.

Dr. Valera's eyes widened. "You're looking at my file!" she exclaimed, outraged.

"Well in my defense, it _was_ just sitting here, Tanith Anne Valera, age twenty-three, address 1264 Pine Drive, Phoenix, Arizona. Single, Berkeley graduate, cumulative GPA of 3.8. Good job on your instructor evaluation, by the way; Alison Marshall over there says you're a great worker _and_ you have organizational skills. What a package, huh?"

Dr. Valera's mouth hung open. Phoebe just reached over and moved Dr. Valera's file off the desk to reveal another.

"Ooh, here we go. Test subjects: Charmed Ones. Halliwell, Piper; Halliwell, Phoebe; and Deluca, Maria." She turned to Maria. "Hey wanna see what they wrote about us?"

Dr. Valera lunged at the file by Phoebe's hand, and Piper instinctively deployed her powers again, this time freezing Dr. Valera in her path. "Thank God," she muttered.

Phoebe rolled her eyes at Dr. Valera's frozen form. "I guess the project really does come before your personal safety," she mused. "Now," she turned to Dr. Marshall, who was standing still with shock, "what can you tell us about this project that we're subjects for? And if you don't tell us, we'll just decode the doctor-speak in your file here, so you'll really just be saving us some time."

Dr. Marshall's eyes flickered toward the door, then back toward her frozen fellow doctor. "Fine. Just . . . don't hurt me. Now what would you like to know?"

"Where are we?" Piper asked.

"Temporally? We're in a parallel dimension, accessed by us from a variety of locations for containment purposes. Terrestrially? We're a few mile outside of Phoenix." Maria blinked, trying to make some sense out of what Dr. Marshall had said.

Piper didn't even bat an eyelash. "What do you mean by 'for containment purposes'?" she asked.

"We can't have the public finding out about us. If we kept all of our subjects on the earthly dimension, our facilities would be far too large to escape notice. We've been working inter-dimensionally for thousands of years now."

"You've been at this for thousands of years?" Phoebe broke in. "I can't believe that we've never heard of you before. And who exactly is this 'we' anyway?"

For the first time since agreeing to cooperate, Dr. Marshall looked reluctant to answer. Then she looked over at Piper's hands, still suspended in the air, slumped her shoulders in a gesture of defeat. "Project Endgame."

"And what you guys here at Project Endgame do, exactly?" Piper asked.

"Our primary aim is to test, observe and obtain data on various forms of supernatural, paranormal and extrasensory beings."

"You experiment on people," Piper summarized flatly.

"Not only people!" Dr. Marshall replied, her eyes flashing with enthusiasm. "Our studies encompass all sorts of beings, from demons and whitelighters to extraterrestrials, although Dr. Valera and I only study witches."

"That's disgusting!" Maria broke in. "You guys just go around taking witches and demons and ali – oh my God! You guys have them. You have my friends."

"I really wouldn't know," Dr. Marshall replied. "I'm not briefed on projects outside of my area of expertise. You would have to ask the special projects coordinator who brought you here for information on any non-witch subjects. Of course, as you know from your experience with Dr. Valera, we're strictly ordered to put the integrity of the project before everything else, so most of us are pretty unforthcoming."

Maria glanced over at Dr. Valera again and noticed that, oddly, although she still appeared frozen, she seemed to _move_ slightly. Before Maria could react with hands or voice, Dr. Valera jumped to life again, only instead of continuing to barrel toward Phoebe, she rammed herself sideways into Piper. Maria stared on in horror, and raised her arms to TK Dr. Valera away, but she realized, too late, that someone had run into her too. She screamed, and her powers missed Dr. Valera and landed on a chair behind the doctor, which went flying into a wall. Maria saw a brief glimpse of white and a swirling mist, then felt a burning sensation in her throat. Her eyes shut, and the world went dark.

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"Good job, Dr. Valera. Subject One's temporal stasis power was stronger than I first anticipated. I might have predicted it if she had succeeded in exhibiting it while in preliminary observation."

"This was your plan for subduing them all along?"

"No, Dr. Valera, my plan for subduing them was to give them the isoprellin gas _and_ call for backup on a comp line, but your actions made that quite impossible."

"I'm sorry, Dr. Marshall. You appeared to be compromising the project."

"I would die before I would compromise the project, Dr. Valera. You will have to be with the project for many more years before you can even begin to understand the degree of commitment I have to its success. Now, go out to the manual line and call for backup from there. Tell them to bring a shaman with them. We'll need to do some minor memory modifications before beginning tests."

"Yes Doctor."

"Oh, and Dr. Valera?"

"Yes?"

"Find Saffron and tell her bring Antar Subject Three for the shaman too. I have a couple of tests I want to run on the Charmed subjects, and I'll need her to proceed."

"Yes Doctor."


	19. Endgame Arc: Nightmares and Dreamscapes

**Aliens & Demons Pt. 19: Nightmares and Dreamscapes**

The desert stretched out before Piper, white-hot and desolate. _What happened?_ she wondered. _I'm supposed to be somewhere._ Piper thought for a moment, but nothing came to mind. She turned around, surveying the silent scene around her. "Hello?" she called out hopefully. No answer.

Then, slowly, a mirage began to form in the distance. Piper squinted, wondering if she had missed its presence before, but it continued to get bigger as she looked at it. On some gut instinct, she began to walk toward the growing image. _It's not like I have anywhere else to go,_ she reasoned as she began walking.

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"What do you mean it's not ready? The paper has to get out in an hour. Get it ready. Now." Phoebe squinted at the source of the voice. She appeared to be in a newspaper office, but she couldn't think for the life of her how she had gotten there.

"Yes ma'am," someone else replied meekly before hurrying off to a desk. Phoebe took a few steps around the bustling newsroom. Nothing out of the ordinary seemed to be going on. No demons. No witches. No one who looked like they could give her so much as clue as to why she was here.

"Phoebe!" Phoebe whirled around, and found herself faced with the woman who had been berating the reporter who didn't have his story done on time.

"Um . . . hi?" Phoebe said, looking at the woman in confusion.

The woman gave her a tight smile. "Hi. Did you get the column to print?"

Phoebe stared at the woman in confusion. Since when did she have a column to get to print? She didn't even have a job. "Uh . . . no." The woman gave her a stony stare, and Phoebe added, "But it's, ah, it's almost ready. Just a few final touches to make."

The woman grunted. "Ten minutes. Then I'm back on your ass." She began to walk away, and Phoebe stared at her with an expression of complete confusion. _What is going on?_

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When Maria came to, a ball of fire was flying at her. "Ahh!" she shrieked, then flung her hands in front of her to deflect the threat. To her surprise, the fireball was only pushed slightly off course, so that it landed about two inches from her right ear. Her eyes widened and she jumped up onto her feet. She could barely collect her bearings before a sizzling ball of energy came toward her. She tried to TK the ball of energy just like she had the fireball, and again, it only shifted its course to land a few inches from her left elbow.

"Where are these things coming from?" Maria wondered aloud, but all she could see in front of her was a low-lying smog.

"Maria! From the right!" Before she even had time to wonder where the warning had come from, Maria vaulted to the right to dispose of the glowing knife coming toward her. Once it was gone, Maria turned to find the source of the voice, and when she did, she started. It was Liz.

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"Stop! You can't . . . do this!"

"Really, this will be much easier for all of us if you just cooperate."

"Oh, like I'm going to believe you," the subject squawked, continuing to resist against the restraining hands. "You won't even tell me why you brought us here."

"Answers will be given in due time, Subject Three. But first, I need you to do what I'm telling you to. Now, all that I am asking you to do is use your powers to help us with a couple of minor things."

Subject Three let out a dry laugh. "Oh, yeah right. Why would I . . . wait a minute. Is that _Maria_?"

The scientist checked the chart in her hand. "Given name: Deluca, Maria. Does that change your mind at all?"

Subject Three was quiet for a moment. "Maybe," the subject said. "It depends what you want me to do."

"If you'll just sit down, Subject Three, I will explain what we need."

The subject hesitated, then nodded to herself and sat. "But stop calling me 'Subject Three.' I'm not some experiment for all of you to have fun playing with. My name is Isabel."

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Piper was getting close to something, she could tell. The mirage seemed to take up half of the desert sky in front of her now, and although she was tiring, she felt as if just reaching her destination would make her safe. Whatever her destination actually was.

But Piper's optimism didn't last for long. In the distance, she began to hear the unmistakable wail of a crying child. She frowned and began to walk a little faster. The crying seemed to be getting progressively louder, but she couldn't see the source anywhere. Piper covered her ears to drown out the piteous shrieks, but covering her ears only made it worse. The cries seemed to reverberate off her hands and bounce back on her eardrums, so Piper released them again. But the cries didn't get softer again when she did; instead, they seemed to get louder and louder, until the sound became so overwhelming that she had to stop and lie, helpless, in the sand.

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Phoebe stared around the newsroom, feeling more helpless than she had in quite a while. It wasn't the newsroom itself that was bothering her, it was the disorientation of the whole scene, of being somewhere completely out of place and having no idea how to right herself again.

"You're supposed to be here," a voice said straight into her ear, and Phoebe jumped. She turned around. A young woman was standing in front of her, dressed completely in white and smiling at her. Phoebe had a feeling that she was supposed to recognize the girl, but she couldn't for the life of her remember why.

"What do you mean? Where am I?" Phoebe asked, and found her voice amplified as though she were in a giant stadium. She looked around at the rest of the newsroom, but it was if a mute button had been pressed. Everyone was going about their business, but they were all completely silent, none of them acknowledging her presence or that of the girl next to her.

"This is what you were supposed to have. What you could have. If you just decide to, this could be you, sweetie pie, just like it was supposed to be." The girl smiled brightly, but the smile had something behind it too, a predatory glint that made warning bells go off in Phoebe's head.

"Where are we?"

"We're where you know you should be. Your own mind is telling you this is what you want, you just have to go with it. Just cooperate, and you can have this."

"I don't even know what this is!" Phoebe protested.

The woman looked around. "Well, I can't be sure, but to me this looks like a pretty plum career, hon. Those pictures on your desk right there?" The girl pointed, and Phoebe whirled around to look. When she did, her stomach turned. "They look like a little girl to me. You've got a career. A family. A life. Doesn't look like such a bad thing to guarantee yourself. Just do what you're asked, and you'll get all of it."

Phoebe stared at the young woman for a moment. Then, almost of her own free will, her eyes passed the woman's face and settled on one farther back, standing at the back of the office. Staring at her as everyone else continued to pass by obliviously. She wasn't dressed in white like the other girl, but she wasn't dressed for the newsroom setting either. Instead, she was wearing shapely tapered jeans and a baby blue tank top, her hair and makeup slightly mussed but still striking. Phoebe had a feeling that she should recognize this girl too. The girl looked her in the eye for a moment, and then moved her lips silently, mouthing two words: "I'm sorry."

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"What are you doing here, Liz?" Maria asked as she held off another fireball.

"What are you talking about?" Liz asked. "We're all here." Maria chanced a glance behind her and saw that Liz was right. Liz, Alex, Michael, Max, Isabel, Kyle, and Tess were all standing behind her.

"Well . . . could I get some help here, then?" Maria asked. "Max, maybe you could put up that-" she paused to deflect a flaming thowing star, "- nice little force field you do? Please?"

"I can't," Max replied. "My powers are blocked here. All of our powers are. You're just going to have to hold them off yourself."

"Thanks for the support," Maria grunted, aiming her powers at another flying weapon. She was beginning to tire a little, and she wasn't sure how long her already weakened powers would continue to work. "Why are we here?"

"We don't know any more than you do," Kyle replied. "Just . . . keep doing whatever it is you're doing."

"I don't know if I can," Maria said. "My powers – I've only had them for, like, a week." Maria's voice trembled slightly. "I'm not as good at them as you guys are."

"Just keep fighting those things off, Maria. We're trying to think of something," Max said, but his voice seemed very far away.

"Michael?" Maria called back as she deflected a fireball. "I'm starting to freak out a little here."

"It's gonna be all right. I'm here. Just hang on for a little while longer," he replied, but his voice too seemed as though it was coming from a distance. Still, Maria nodded, biting her lip and trying to bolster herself with his words.

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"Our first trial seemed successful, Doctor. I think Subject Two believed that she was actually seeing her future. Idiot."

"We have proof that Charmed Subject Two can obtain information through her capability to receive premonitions. It does not seem unlikely that she would believe her hallucinations could be premonitions of her own future, Miss. Price."

"Yeah, I guess, but she also believed that if she did what we said, we could change her future. The chick's been watching way too much of _The Matrix_."

"You did not release any information in regards to the project, Miss Price?"

"No. Of course not." For the first time, Saffron looked a little nervous. "I just suggested that cooperating with us would be better for her future than resisting. Nothing we didn't agree on when I went in."

Dr. Marshall nodded. "Well, then, I think that it is time we moved on to the next subject."

For the first time since returning, Isabel spoke, and when she did, her voice was cold and scornful. "Please. You actually think you can make people do what you want them to just by going into their drug-induced fantasies and 'suggesting' it to them?"

Dr. Marshall looked at Isabel mildly. "That is just what we are about to find out. Proceed please, Subject Th –Miss Evans."

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Piper lay back in the sand, her eyes squeezed shut. She had given up trying to keep the piercing screams out of her ears, and tried now just stay calm. She had almost begun to get used to them when a shadowed figure passed over her.

"What are you doing?" The figure asked with a voice that could be heard even over the noise. Piper's eyes widened and she hurried to stand up, because while the figure was still covered in shadow, the voice was unmistakable.

"Prue?" she croaked, the shadow disappearing from Prue's face as Piper stood to face her.

"Hi Piper," Prue replied, smiling a little. "Uh . . . why are you lying in the sand?"

"The screams got too loud and I had to stop . . ." Piper trailed off, staring into Prue's cool eyes. "How are you here? I mean, you're . . ."

"- dead, I know." Prue finished. "Apparently, stuff like that isn't such an issue here."

Piper stared at Prue for a moment, then wrapped her arms around Prue and buried her face in her sister's shoulder. The screeching noise was still present, but it seemed far away compared with what was happening now. "I'm so sorry Prue," she said, tears coating her eyes. "You shouldn't have died like that. Leo should have healed you first. He – " Piper's voice caught in her throat.

"Piper, stop," Prue broke in, gripping Piper's shoulders. "You can't blame yourself - or Leo – for this. It just happened; it was none of our faults."

"How can you say that, Prue?" Piper asked through tears. "You _died_, remember?"

"Do you think I'm happy about that, Piper? Things haven't exactly been going well for me either, you know." Prue paused. "But I'll adjust, and so will you. You can't let this destroy you. You still have a job to do, remember? You've gotta be around to keep Phoebe in line."

Despite herself, Piper smiled a little. "So, what? You're telling me to buck up and get over you already?"

"Something like that," Prue replied. "And you can start by getting back on your path." She motioned to the mirage ahead of them.

"Will you come with me?" Piper asked.

Prue shook her head. "It's not my journey anymore. Don't worry, you'll be okay. Just keep going forward."

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Long after the two girls had left, taking the eerie silence of the room with them, Phoebe remained still. She looked down at the picture on the desk, the one that the woman in white had said was of her daughter. She looked into the girl's sparkling brown eyes and smiled a little, noticed how much they looked like her own. "I want to meet you," she whispered. "But not like this." Phoebe broke eye contact with the girl in the photograph and headed for the newsroom door.

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For Maria, the flying threats were still coming every few seconds. But out of the corner of her eye, Maria noticed something. Someone seemed to have just come into the scene in front of her and to the right. Maria did a double-take, trying to get a closer look, and was almost taken out by a fireball hurtling toward her. Hastily, Maria used her powers to move it, but to her immense surprise, the fireball didn't miss her by just a couple of inches like everything else had. Instead, it went flying off toward the figures that had just appeared, and Maria thought that she saw it hit one of them in the chest.

The world seemed to go silent around Maria, and when Maria looked behind her, she saw that all of her friends were completely frozen. A flying knife was suspended in midair a foot away from her ear, and Maria swatted it out of the air. The dissonant clatter of the knife hitting the ground broke the silence, but it was what came next that Maria heard the best. It was the voice of a girl, the one who had been hit.

"This isn't possible. It's not real . . ." the girl gasped before falling to the ground. Maria's eyes widened, but before she could more forward to observe the scene more clearly, the silence broke and a glowing green orb came whizzing toward her, which Maria deflected with a simple wave of her hand.

"Maria!" a voice called. _Isabel?_ Maria chanced a glance behind her. Isabel shrugged, frowning in confusion. When Maria turned back to continue fighting off various flying fatalities, she saw that the other figure that had appeared, the one who hadn't fallen, was coming toward her. And it was . . . Isabel?

"Maria, you have to come with me," this Isabel insisted. "Listen to me, this is all just a hallucination. These crazy doctors, they're doing some sort of stupid experiment with all of this. They've got you and these two other women on some sort of drugs, and they're making me dreamwalk all of you."

"What are you talking about?" Maria asked, barely glancing toward this Isabel. She paused, thinking. "Anyway, if this is all fake, I should be safe here, right? Why don't I just stop deflecting these things and make myself move on to some other dream?"

"Look, Maria, I don't know how it works, but if those things can hurt Andrea, then they can probably hurt us too. We need to get out of here."

"Andrea?" Maria asked. "Who's Andrea?"

Isabel motioned toward the prone figure on the ground where Isabel had been standing when she first appeared. "Andrea Russell, or whatever her name really is. Something Price, I think. She's been out to get us all this time, can you believe it?"

"Saffron . . ." Maria trailed off, covering one hand over her mouth. "Oh my God. Is she dead?"

"I don't know, Maria." Isabel sighed. "Look, can we talk about this later? We really need to leave."

"Yeah, okay. But I remember now, Isabel! I don't know how I even forgot . . . I haven't even been thinking about Piper or Phoebe or Project Endgame – all I could think about was that I was the only thing keeping us all from being wiped out."

"Maria . . ."

"All right, I get it, we have to hurry. How many will there be when we get out of here?"

"Four, but I'm sure they can send backup if try to fight them off. The powers that you have in here aren't going to be around to protect us when we get back to reality, and I can't fight off however many guys they can throw at us."

"Isabel . . ." Maria paused, barely noticing her own actions as she continued fighting off knives and fireballs. She contemplated telling Isabel about the Charmed thing, then decided the whole explaining and convincing thing would take up too much time. "Lets just do it, Isabel," she insisted instead. "I mean, what other choice do we have? If we don't try to fight them, we might never get another chance, and who knows what else they'll do to us if we don't get out now?"

Isabel eyed Maria. "Are you sure that you're Maria? That had a weirdly Max-like kind of logic to it."

Maria smirked and grabbed Isabel's hand. She saw Isabel close her eyes, concentrating. A fireball began approaching fast, but they were gone before it could hit.


	20. Endgame Arc: Three Witches and an Alien

**Aliens & Demons Pt. 20: Endgame Arc - Three Witches and an Alien**

"What did you do in there?" Maria heard a voice demanding as she came to. She blinked and opened her eyes to find herself on a stiff cot inside of a lab. Piper's prone form was to her right, with Phoebe next to her. Maria looked beyond her area of the room and saw Isabel rising from the floor just a few feet in front of Dr. Marshall. Saffron was lying on the floor beside her.

"Apparently, whatever hallucinations you have them in aren't just hallucinations after all," Isabel replied, "considering that a fireball knocked out your little crony there the minute I got us into Maria's dream." As Isabel talked, Maria carefully slipped off of her cot and knelt on the floor, crawling toward Dr. Marshall as quietly as she could.

Dr. Marshall stared at Isabel. "That's impossible. What the subjects experience are merely delusions, they can't . . . how could that happen?" Dr. Marshall asked, more to herself than to Isabel. Maria took the opportunity to rise up off the floor and slam her elbow into the side of Dr. Marshall's head, knocking down the surprised doctor.

"Kind of like that," Isabel mused. "Nice hit, Maria. Now let's get out of here. If we're lucky, we might even be able to take down the guards at the door before they realize that something's wrong and call everyone in this place to come after us."

"Isabel, wait," Maria said, grabbing Isabel's arm. "What about-"

A small screech interrupted Maria's words, and Maria and Isabel turned to see Phoebe sitting up on her cot.

"Phoebe!" Maria exclaimed, hurrying over.

"Maria, hi. Uh, would you by any chance know what happened?" Phoebe asked.

"They drugged us. How are you awake though? I only got out of my dream . . . hallucination . . . thingy when Isabel came for me."

"Isabel?" Phoebe asked, frowning a little. Then she turned her head and caught sight of Isabel, who was still standing a few feet away. "You," Phoebe breathed. "You were in my dream world, you and Saffron both."

Maria winced at the mention of Saffron's name, remembering how she had sent the fireball flying into the other woman's torso.

Isabel, for her part, had a neutral look pasted onto her face. "I was in your dream? That's . . . weird."

"Yeah," Phoebe said. She sat lost in thought for a minute, during which Isabel shot Maria frantic looks that it took Maria a moment to figure out. _Oh right, the alien thing. She's worried that Phoebe's going to give her the third degree. God, I can't believe I almost forgot that Phoebe's not supposed to know about Max, Michael, Isabel, and Tess's 'out of this world' status._

"Hey, Maria, didn't you say that Isabel came for you in your dream too?" Phoebe asked.

"Oh look, the other woman's awake!" Isabel blurted out, looking a little frantic. Maria turned and saw that Piper was indeed coming to. Phoebe abandoned her train of thought in favor of hopping off the cot and going to stand by her sister.

"Am I back?" Piper asked, propping herself up with her hands. She looked tired, Maria noticed, much more so than Phoebe did.

"Yeah, you're back sweetie," Phoebe said, giving her a hug. "How did you get out?"

"I just kept walking," Piper said, shrugging. "Dull, but surprisingly effective."

"Uh, guys? I would love to chat about this more later, but we need to get out of here. Isabel and I knocked out Dr. Marshall, but we are still in the middle of a giant laboratory, remember?" Maria said, glancing around.

Piper bent her head so that she could see Dr. Marshall lying unconscious on the floor. "Serves you right," she said, glaring at Dr. Marshall. "All right you guys, lets go." She hopped off of the bed and headed for the front of the room, ready to take the lead. It was only at this moment, as Maria looked from Piper to Isabel, who also seemed to expect to be the leader, that Maria realized the major problem that she was about to face. How were they going to fight off all of the guards and doctors who would probably be after them very soon when Isabel didn't know who Piper and Phoebe were or that they knew about her alien side? _There is no way this is going to work_, Maria realized. She sighed and held up a hand.

"Wait. Everybody stop," she said. Piper, Phoebe, and Isabel all swiveled to look at her. "Before we go out there, we have to get a few things straight. Now, I realize that some of us here have secrets that they want to protect, but that's just not going to work anymore, okay?"

"Maria . . ." Isabel said, staring at Maria in horror. Maria felt a twinge of guilt. She had promised to protect the aliens' secret, and now here she was, about to tell Isabel that she had already spilled everything to the sisters. But it wasn't like she had much of a choice.

"Look, Isabel. Piper, Phoebe, and I are all witches. That's why I had powers in my dream – because I really do have powers. I have for about a few days now. I wanted to tell you, but it's like this super-secret thing, and I wasn't supposed to tell anyone. Except that Max and Alex know already, so I obviously suck at keeping my own secrets even more than I suck at keeping everyone else's. Also, Piper and Phoebe kind of know about the whole alien thing, because I had to take Alex to their house to keep him safe after the rest of you went missing. Of course, it turned out that that was kind of unnecessary, because they didn't really want Alex, but, you know, I didn't know that at the time."

Isabel just stared at Maria, then glanced toward the door and sighed. "All right, we've gotta go now, but we're _so_ going to talk later."

"Right," Maria said under her breath as they began walking toward the door. "Won't that be fun?"

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"Anything now?"

"No."

"Now?"

"No."

"Okay . . . now?"

"Alex, I need to concentrate. If I start to sense them, I'll tell you."

"Right. See, that's what you said an hour ago, but I've gotten nothing from this book, and you've gotten nothing from whatever it is that you're doing, and my parents have probably sent out a search party by now, so that answer doesn't work for me anymore," Alex said, sitting up on the couch and snapping the Book of Shadows shut next to him.

"Alex, I don't know what to tell you. I'll take you home when it's safe for you to go home, and not a minute before." Leo paused. "Why don't you just call them and say that you're studying late or something?"

Alex sighed. "Fine. But if I get grounded because they think that I've gone to Tijuana to buy designer drugs, you'd better be around to orb me out of the house." He trudged into the kitchen and found a phone, then dialed his home number.

"Hello?"

"Hi Dad. It's me, Alex."

"Alex? Where are you? Dinner was over an hour ago. Are you all right?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Look, I'm sorry I didn't call sooner. I've been studying with Liz and Maria and I guess I lost track of time for a while."

There was a pause on the other end of the line. "The car's still in the driveway. Did you walk all the way over to the Crashdown?"

Alex groaned inwardly. "Uh, actually, we're at the Delucas'. Neither of them was working today, so we thought we'd mix it up a little."

"All right," his dad said, sounding a little confused. "What time will you be home?"

"You know, I'm not really sure. I might actually end up spending the night there. Sean's away tonight, so I can sleep in his – God!" Alex jumped back at Cole's sudden appearance in front of him.

"Alex? Are you all right?"

"Yeah. Just . . . a sudden noise. Ms. Deluca is watching TV."

"Oh. Okay, well . . . have fun then. Call me if you need a ride to school tomorrow."

"I think Maria will take care of it, but thanks anyway. Bye, Dad." Alex let out a silent sigh as he hung up the phone, greatful for once for his father's sometimes timid nature. Even if his dad was a little suspicious of his story, he wouldn't press Alex about it. Alex put down the phone and looked leerily at Cole. "Could you _not_ do that?"

"Sorry," Cole said, not sounding very sorry at all. "Any new developments?"

"No," Leo replied, coming into the kitchen. "Did you find out anything?"

"Only the biggest piece of news to filter through the Underworld since I killed the Triad," Cole said. "Apparently, a demon showed up underground a few weeks ago saying that he had been taken and experimented on for hundreds of years. He claimed that the people who took him took others too, and that he saw a bunch of magical creatures in holding cells when he escaped. It might be unrelated to the girls' disappearance, but I'd imagine that someone wanting to experiment with magical beings would kill to get their hands on the Charmed Ones."

Leo frowned. "Was the demon named Aolong Dao?"

"Yeah," Cole replied. "How did you know?"

"The girls just vanquished him yesterday," Leo said. "They mentioned that he was saying strange things before they vanquished him, something about broken promises and not wanting to be taken again." Leo paused. "Do you really think it's possible? I mean, if someone has been experimenting on magical beings for that long, why don't The Elders know? Or every demon in the Underworld, for that matter? An operation that elaborate would be almost impossible to hide from everyone in the magical community."

"It's not exactly easy to hide an entire magical world from the vast majority of the human population," Cole replied. "But we haven't been exposed yet."

"True, but . . ."

Alex had been standing by, listening to Leo and Cole bounce ideas off each other and feeling very lost. Then he saw Leo widen and then close his eyes in the middle of his sentence. "Uh, Leo? Is something wrong?"

"It's the girls," Leo said. "I can sense them."

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"What?" Piper asked, having just frozen the last of the guards to come barreling toward them after they emerged from the room.

Isabel blinked. "Nothing. Just . . . that was amazing. How long will they stay like that?"

"A few minutes, hopefully," Piper replied. "but I really don't want to put my powers to the test by staying here. Where were you guys being held before they took you down to us to – uh, what did they take you down to us for?"

"This way, follow me," Isabel said, leading them to the right, down a long hallway. As they walked, she addressed Piper's question. "I can go into people's minds sometimes, when their defenses are down. Usually, it's just people's dreams, but sometimes I can get into the mind of someone who's been drugged too. They wanted me to take Andrea – Saffron, I mean – into your hallucinations. I think they were experimenting somehow with how to make you more cooperative."

"Speaking of our favorite pain in the ass, what happened to Saffron? She was still lying on the floor when we left that room." Phoebe said, chiming in from behind Piper and Isabel.

"I used my powers on her by accident," Maria admitted from her place next to Phoebe. Phoebe stared at her in horror, and Piper turned around to look at Maria with wide eyes. "I mean, in my dream. I was fighting off all these deadly weapons, and when Isabel and Saffron came in, one of them hit her before I even realized what was going on. I didn't mean to hurt her, I swear."

"So . . . Saffron's dead?" Phoebe asked.

"No," Isabel said, her eyes remaining on her route. "I saw her chest moving when I woke up. Piper!" Piper sprang into action, freezing the pair of scientists who had just appeared in the corridor. Isabel released a breath. "We're getting closer. I remember passing that wing on the way down to your room." She nodded her head at a diverging hallway, which had a sign next to it marking it as "Summers Wing."

"Thank God. I am so ready to get out of this place," Maria said. Then she let out a small screech as a familiar form appeared in front of her in a hail of blue lights. "Leo!" she exclaimed.

"Maria, shut up!" Isabel scolded as a guard emerged from Summers Wing to investigate the source of the noise. Then she turned and saw the man behind her and started. Piper, for her part, carefully froze the guard and then hurried to her husband's side.

Leo wrapped his arms around her. "I'm so glad you guys are okay. I got so worried when I couldn't sense you. Where are we?"

"In mortal peril," Phoebe broke in. "We've got more guards, you guys!" Maria looked, and sure enough, guards were approaching them from both sides of the hallway, large guns pointed toward Maria and her small group of allies.

"Dr. Marshall must have woken up and sent out the big guns, so to speak." Piper said. "Would you mind getting us out of here, Leo?"

"No problem," Leo replied. Phoebe immediately grabbed his shoulder and Maria touched his back. Isabel, on the other hand just looked thoroughly confused and scared.

"Put your hand on him," Maria whispered, glancing back and forth at the approaching guards. "Come on, hurry!" Isabel looked skeptical, but she laid a hand on Leo's forearm and Leo immediately orbed them out.

Moments later, three Charmed Ones, an alien, and a whitelighter were all standing in the foyer of the manor. "We're back!" Leo called out. At his voice, Alex and Cole emerged from the parlor.

"Alex!" both Maria and Isabel exclaimed at the same moment that Alex said, "Isabel?"

"I brought you back a gift," Maria quipped, then threw her arms around him. Alex hugged her back, then turned to hug Isabel, who returned the hug gingerly at first, then ferociously. Nearby, Maria could see Phoebe and Cole having their own joyful reunion, although theirs consisted of a little less hugging and a lot more making out. Piper and Leo, however, having already said their hellos when Leo came for them at the laboratory, were all business.

"You guys have to hurry and cast a spell," Leo said, heading for the parlor and emerging with the Book of Shadows. "We found it before I orbed over to get you. It's to bind you to this dimension, so that the people who took you last time can't just snatch you away again."

"Wait, no!" Isabel exclaimed, stepping away from Alex to face the group. "Max, Michael, Liz, Kyle, and Tess are still trapped there. We have to go back."

"Go back? Are you crazy? Do you realize the kind of resources these people have?" Cole protested. "They've been around for maybe thousands of years. If you go back, you're just asking to get captured again." He paused. "Who are you, anyway? Are the Charmed Ones carrying an entourage everywhere with them these days?"

"This is _Isabel_, Cole," Maria replied. "She's one of my friends."

"One of many, it seems," Cole muttered, shooting a look at Alex that earned him a light punch in the ribs from Phoebe.

"And Isabel's right," Maria replied, making a concerted effort to ignore Cole. "We have to go back for them."

"Thank you, Maria," Isabel said.

"How do we get there, though?" Piper asked. "Leo can't orb us to where your friends are being held, because he doesn't know, and even if he did, he couldn't sense us when we were being tested on, remember? That means that any part of the lab that is in a dimension other than our own is somewhere he can't take us."

"So we fight our way through some more guards," Isabel said nonchalantly. "They won't be expecting us to be stupid enough to come back right away."

"We? Nuh uh, sorry Isabel, but you can't come with us. You seem strong, but it's still too dangerous. We can't risk it," Phoebe said.

"Excuse me? How are you going to find them without me to guide you?" Isabel asked. "I'm coming."

"We don't have time to argue about this," Leo cut in. "If they take you guys again, you'll just end up in another testing area, and they'll make sure to be more prepared for all of your powers this time. Isabel's right, she has to go, if only to lead you guys. Now everyone who's coming, grab a hold. I'll take you back to where I found you before, and Isabel can lead you from there."

Piper, who was already holding Leo's arm, didn't have to move. Phoebe started toward Leo, but Cole stopped her with a hand on her arm. "I'll shimmer in after you guys," he said. "I won't let you do this alone." Phoebe nodded and then went over to Leo.

Maria turned back to Alex. "There's no way you're coming, you know that, right?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'll hold down the fort here," he said. Maria reached over and gave him a quick hug before going to join Leo.

Isabel paused, looking intently at Alex for a moment. Then, without warning, she grabbed his shoulders and kissed him, extending the kiss for nearly ten seconds before letting go. "Be back soon," she murmured, turning her back on Alex and running over to Leo. "Let's go."

Maria smiled a little at the sight of Alex gaping at Isabel as Leo orbed them all out of the manor and back into the danger zone.


	21. Endgame Arc: Into the Fray

**Aliens & Demons Pt. 21: The Endgame Arc - Into the Fray**

"Something's wrong. It must have been hours since they took Isabel away, and they still haven't come back," Liz said from her spot in the far corner of the room that she, Max, Michael, Isabel, Tess and Kyle had been thrown into hours ago.

"Something's wrong with this whole situation," Michael replied from his place by the door. He ran a hand through his mid-length brown hair and frowned.

"Amen to that," Kyle chimed in. He and Tess were sitting next to each other on the hard white floor, backs against a wall.

"I just don't get it. Why Isabel?" Max asked, his head falling back to touch the wall he was leaning against. "And why haven't they done anything to the rest of us? What are they waiting for?" The room descended back into silence, everyone lost in their own thoughts except for Michael, who had his ear pressed up against the doorjamb.

"You know, Michael," Tess said after a couple of minutes, "You haven't heard anything through there for the past three hours. Why don't you give your ear a rest? If they come in here to take one of us again, it's not going to matter if we hear them coming. It's not like we have anywhere to hide in here, and if the number of men who carried Isabel out of here is any indicator of how big their operation is, it's not like we can fight them either."

"Shh," Michael replied. His eyes widened. "I think I heard something." Everyone looked up.

Without a word, Tess got up and hurried over to the door, the skepticism of moments before all but forgotten. She ran her hand along the doorjamb, and as if a speaker had been turned on in the room, voices began to resound from the door. "Little trick I got from Nasedo," she whispered.

Everyone was silent, listening as sounds from outside filled the room. "You guys keep going, I'll hold off the guards!" a male voice yelled.

"Don't be stupid Cole, that's suicide," a female voice replied.

"Not if I shimmer in and out enough to keep them from getting close," the guy, Cole, replied. Liz furrowed a brow. _Shimmer?_

"Cole, don't!" the woman cried back. "Damn, I hate it when he just goes off on his own like that," she muttered.

"Are we getting close?" another female voice asked. "Even with Cole as a distraction, one of these guys is eventually going to get a shot in before I can freeze him."

"Yeah, I see the door up ahead," A third female voice replied, only this one was familiar to Liz.

"Is that – " Liz began.

"Isabel," Max finished, going to stand by the door. The noises behind the door had become much louder, so that they resounded through the room, making Liz feel like covering her ears. Kyle looked similarly uncomfortable. Tess ran her hand down the doorjamb again and the amplified sound quieted some, though it remained loud enough so that Isabel and whoever was with her could still be heard through the door.

"They're in here," Liz heard Isabel say.

"Great. Now how are we supposed to get in there?" A voice replied. _Maria?_ Liz looked over at Michael and the two of them shared a shocked look that told Liz that Michael was having the exact same thought she was.

Max opened his mouth, but Tess shushed him with a hand over his mouth. "It could be a trick," she whispered. The three aliens stood around the door, tense, while Liz and Kyle waited from across the room.

"Hold on," Isabel's voice replied. There was a moment of silence, and then a barely audible sigh came from the other side of the door. "I can't open it. Any other ideas, guys?"

"Let me," one of the other female voices said. "Stand back." There was a pause, and then a deafening crash as the door flew off of its hinges, knocking Max, Michael, and Tess back in the process. Michael appeared to take the brunt of it, since he was the only one who had been standing directly behind the door. Liz looked at the spot where the door had been and saw a woman with long dark hair framed in the doorway. She looked down and saw the stunned aliens, who were all still conscious, albeit dazed. "Oh, crap."

Maria appeared to the right of the brunette. "Piper!" she exclaimed, making her way through the remains of the door to grab Michael's bicep and help him up. "You almost killed my boyfriend!"

"Sorry," the woman, Piper, replied, looking contrite. "I wasn't expecting them to be standing right by the door."

"Max!" Isabel exclaimed, coming from the left side of the doorway to hug her brother, who had managed to get up with help from a barely affected Tess. She looked around the room. "Is everyone okay?"

"In the loosest sense of the word," Kyle said, standing up.

Michael, meanwhile, was rising slowly from the ground, holding his side and grimacing. "That's gonna leave a mark," he muttered. Then the presence of Maria standing next to him seemed to register for the first time. He squinted in confusion. "What are you doing here?"

Maria gave him a wry, tearful smile. "All in good time, spaceboy. I'm just glad you're okay." She looked around and met Liz's eyes, giving her friend a small, slightly awkward smile. "Hi, Liz."

Liz returned Maria's greeting with a small nod of acknowledgment, unable to coax a smile onto her own face.

"Come on, you guys. Cole won't be able to play monkey in the middle with the horde of guards out there forever," the other female voice Liz had heard chimed in from somewhere in the hallway. "We have to get everyone out of here."

"All right, come on everyone," Piper said, stepping back.

"Wait," Tess said. "Who are you guys? Where are you taking us?"

"Tess, it's okay," Isabel replied, ushering Kyle and Liz toward the door. "It's a long story, but they were trapped in this place too. They helped me escape, and trust me, if anyone can get us out of here, they can."

"Okay, so not to slow down the rescue mission, but what is Maria doing here?" Kyle asked. "How do we know that having her and Isabel come for us isn't some trick to manipulate us, like Tess said before they _broke down_ the door?"

Max stepped forward, looking from Piper to Maria, who was having some communication with Max with her eyes that Liz couldn't interpret. "It's not." He paused. "If anyone wants to stay here, they can. But I'm going. We don't have any better options right now. If it's a trick, then I'd rather be taken in than be powerless in here for any longer." He met Liz's eyes briefly and Liz felt a shiver go up her spine. Then he turned and walked out into the hallway. Maria followed, bolstering a still pained Michael. She had a small smile on her face, and like so much of what Maria had said and done during the past week, Liz had no idea what it meant.

Kyle and Tess met each other's eyes with uneasy looks, then walked into the hallway together. Isabel motioned for Liz to go ahead of her, which Liz did reluctantly, wondering as she did what was worse: being trapped in a room for hours with no idea what was going on or being thrown out of the relative safety of that place into something else entirely.

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As soon as they were all out of the room, Piper was calling for Leo. She looked up into the air and was silent for a moment, waiting. Kyle, Tess, Liz, Max, and Michael all looked up and down the hall, presumably expecting the guy Piper was calling to appear from one end. Maria, on the other hand, knew what to expect and waited for Leo's appearance. When it became clear that no appearance was forthcoming, Piper sighed. "Stupid inter-dimensional rules," she muttered. "Come on, we have to get somewhere where Leo can hear us."

"Who's Leo?" Kyle whispered.

"At the moment, he's our way out of here," Maria replied, shifting her arm under Michael's weight. He was mostly walking on his own now, but he was still leaning on Maria more than he probably realized.

"Wait, Piper," Phoebe said. "I'm going to go find Cole and tell him that he can stop the distraction."

"Phoebe, you can't just go alone," Piper protested. "You don't have any active powers to protect you, and those guards have plenty of bullets in their guns to make sure you don't get close to Cole." She looked back at the rest of the group. "I'll go with you."

Phoebe shook her head immediately. "No Piper, you're the best defense we have. You have to stay with the group and make sure everyone gets back safely."

There was a moment of silence. Then Max stepped forward. "I can go with you."

"How is you being with me going to make me any safer than if I go alone?" Phoebe asked, looking at Max with a measure of skepticism.

Max took a breath and stepped forward, then raised his right hand and put up the green power shield that he had begun to gain control over at the beginning of the year. "I can keep it up long enough for you to tell your friend that we're out."

Phoebe looked impressed, but turned to Piper for her approval. Piper still looked wary, but she shrugged. "Okay, you guys get Cole then. But get him to shimmer you back to the manor right away. No trying to find us again. We'll make it out on our own." Phoebe nodded her understanding. Max looked a little confused, but he tensed his body and went to stand next to Phoebe. As he got ready to leave with Phoebe, he met Maria's eyes. Maria smiled a little and motioned him forward, mouthing a silent "Thanks" to him. It had to be confusing for poor Max, she thought, knowing just enough to know that this had something to do with her being a witch, but not enough to understand where the manor was or how Cole was going to 'shimmer' them back to it.

"Okay," Piper said once Phoebe and Max disappeared down a corridor. "Let's go. The main areas of the building are where Leo is probably most likely to hear us, so we're gonna try to get back to some main hallways." At this, she set off at a brisk walk, and Maria and Isabel urged the rest of the group forward after her.

"What is going _on_?" Michael asked under his breath as he tried to match the pace of the group without inflaming the pain in his side.

Maria patted him on the back. "Just go with it, dude. Trust me, it's much easier if you go with it." The group moved forward, taking Piper's lead through the labyrinth of hallways. Shortly after they started, Piper flung her hands out to freeze a guard, the first they had seen since leaving the holding cell. If not for Isabel in the back moving everyone forward, Maria was pretty sure they would have come to a standstill. Michael, Liz, and Tess all stopped in their tracks, and Kyle let out a loud exclamation, which was quickly shushed by an all-business Piper. After that, the group was mostly silent except for Piper's occasional calls to Leo to see if they were in his hearing range yet.

Then, after what felt like hours of wandering but was probably closer to twenty minutes, Liz let out a screech. Maria glanced back and saw that Liz was staring in horror at a doorway they were passing by. A doorway that was a tiny bit open, with what looked like the barrel of a gun beginning to poke out through the crack . . . Without stopping for even a moment to consider, Maria shot her hand out, flinging the door open and sending the person on the other side of it into the depths of the dark room.

Michael, whose hand had begun to come up as well, stared at her in mute shock. Maria met his eyes, and for a moment, time seemed to stand still. Then she felt a cold wetness spreading across her abdomen and she looked down to see blood flowering out from a point at her side. She stared down at it. She hadn't even felt it hit; it must have been a stray bullet that had been shot off when she blasted the guy behind the door, but even knowing that, the bullet hole seemed impossible. Unreal. _Was this how it felt for Liz . . . ?_ She looked up again and saw Michael's beautiful brown eyes drawn wide with horror and felt what must have been Kyle's hand on her arm as she began to fall. Then, nothing.


	22. Endgame Arc: Losing Battles

**Aliens & Demons Pt. 22: The Endgame Arc – Losing Battles**

Too many things were happening at once. Kyle had barely registered the fact that Maria was collapsing to the ground and reached out a hand to keep her up when he heard Piper calling for Leo again. "Leo! Come on Leo, please hear me," she called. Quite honestly, Kyle was skeptical that this Leo was ever going to show up. Then again, after seeing Piper freeze several guards in their tracks, it had hit home to Kyle that maybe he didn't understand everything that was going on.

The weight of Maria's unconscious body against his side decreased, and Kyle saw that Michael had gone around to her other side, holding her up. "Leo's not coming!" Michael yelled to Piper, voicing Kyle's unspoken suspicion. "We have to find Max. He can help her."

"No," Piper replied. "They could be back at the manor already, and even if they're not, it will take us too long to find them here." She looked up and down the hallway, then back at Maria's slumped form. "Someone take Maria and we'll keep going."

"No!" Michael replied, turning halfway around to face Piper. "We're not going to wander around doing nothing until she dies."

"Oh? What else do you suggest?" Piper shot back. "That we wander around doing nothing until we find Max? Phoebe and Max probably aren't even here anymore!" She stepped closer to Michael, her voice rising. "The best way to help Maria is to get her to Leo, and every minute I stand here arguing with you is one more minute we're wasting. Now listen to me and pick up your damn girlfriend so that we can go!" She stared at Michael for a moment, positively seething, and Kyle leaned back a little, surprised by Piper's sudden display of temper. Then she turned away and walked back to the head of the group.

"Come on Michael, just listen to her," Isabel begged. Her voice got quieter. "We might not have much time."

Liz let out a low moan at Isabel's words, but her face remained composed and her eyes dry.

Michael closed his eyes and leaned his head against the corridor, his arm going to his lower chest. Kyle couldn't tell if he was fighting grief or panic or pain or some combination of all three.

"I'll carry her, Michael," he found himself saying.

Michael raised his eyes to Kyle's. "No, I can-"

"You're hurt. Right now, I can go faster with her than you can." Michael's eyes shifted to Maria and remained there for a moment.

"Yeah," Michael said finally, nodding. Kyle wasted no time in scooping Maria out of her half standing, half collapsed position against the corridor wall and into his arms. She wasn't as small as Tess or Liz, but she was still relatively light, and Kyle was able to keep up with the group pretty well, even with the extra load. Tess had moved ahead of him to take over Maria's place helping Michael walk, but Piper still began moving farther and farther ahead of the group, freezing every guard in his tracks and calling out Leo's name with more frequency.

Still, these particulars barely registered with Kyle, who kept all of his attention focused on Maria's injury. The wound itself was on Maria's left side, the one closest to Kyle's body, and Kyle could feel her blood beginning to soak into his t-shirt. Her skin, pale even under normal circumstances, glowed a frightening shade of alabaster under the fluorescent lights. Would he know if Maria died in his arms, he wondered, or might he end up carrying the dead body of his friend in his arms without even realizing it? _No, I would be able to tell,_ he reasoned. _She couldn't just die right here without my knowing, right? Besides she's not gonna die. We'll get back to Max and he'll work his alien mojo on her like he did with me and Liz last year. She won't die._ Kyle held Maria a little bit more tightly in his arms. _She won't die._

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"Are you sure we should go over there? He's practically surrounded."

"Can you keep up the shield up?" Phoebe asked, moving back from the corner they were peeking around to look at Max.

"Well, yeah, but-"

"Then we're going." Seeing the worry on Max's face, Phoebe gave him a small smile. "Don't worry, Cole can take care of himself. Just keep up your shield, and he'll deal with the rest."

Max returned her reassuring look with a forced smile of his own and then fixed his face in a look of concentration. "Okay, when I say, we go around the corner," he said. Phoebe nodded, inwardly amused at his eagerness to take control. Not that he didn't seem smart. She could see why Maria had felt safe telling him her secret. The guy acted so in control he could give Leo a run for his money. Still, the witching world was clearly new to him, and his brow seemed knotted in constant thought as he tried to gain a handle on this new aspect of his world.

"Okay, go!" Max said. Phoebe came out into the hallway and Max followed an instant later, forming the shield that Max had demonstrated.

A few of the guards surrounding Cole turned, and Cole himself caught her eye. "Cole, everyone's out!" Phoebe cried across the hallway. "How about you shimmer over here and get us back to the manor?"

Cole continued to gaze at her very intently, and a knot began to form in the pit of Phoebe's stomach. "I'm afraid I can't do that, Feebs," Cole replied. Phoebe saw the familiar flicker of Cole's body disappearing as he did when he shimmered, but an instant later, Cole reappeared in the exact same spot he had begun to shimmer from.

"That's not supposed to happen, is it?" Max asked.

"No," Phoebe replied, panic feeding the yawning pit in her stomach. "It's really not."

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Piper's hands were getting very tired. This was the kind of problem that didn't occur to the average person: maintaining stamina while flinging your arms outward periodically to freeze some flunky with an Uzi. For Piper, though, the tired ache in her hands was a signal that the day was going very badly. She turned another corner and flung her arms out yet again to ward off the pair of guards waiting there.

"Leo, come on. Hear me," she muttered, glancing behind her to see how the rest of the group was faring. Maria's boyfriend was limping along as fast as he could, supported by the short blonde who had stayed silent since the journey out of the building began. The guy holding Maria had a red stain on his shirt where her blood had sunk in, giving Piper a tight, queasy feeling. _Please make it out of this, Maria,_ she thought. _Live to piss me off another day. _Maria's other friend looked drained, her pretty brown eyes fixed on Maria. Isabel just looked tense, glancing behind her every few seconds, never keeping her eyes trained on one thing for long. Mostly, they looked tired. Tired and scared. Piper didn't blame them.

Piper turned a corner and whispered again: "Leo." Then, blue sparks formed in front of her and Leo appeared, looking relieved.

"You were gone for so long, I thought something had happened," he said. "Where is everyone?"

Piper let out a breath. "Come on," she said, pulling him around the corner to reveal the rest of the group. She heard Leo's indrawn breath when he saw Maria. "Leo's here, everyone. Grab hold of him, we're leaving."

"What?" the guy holding Maria asked.

"No time to explain Kyle, just grab one of his shoulders or something," Isabel replied, brushing past to stand by Leo and put a hand on his back to demonstrate. When there was a pause, Isabel took a step toward the group, still resting a hand on Leo's back. "Do you guys want Maria to die?" she asked.

Maria's brunette friend stepped forward first, touching Leo's upper arm gently, looking to Isabel for approval, which Isabel gave with an approving nod. The other three followed, and Piper took Leo's hand in hers, squeezing it. Leo took one final look at Maria and put his free hand on one of her shoulders, then orbed everyone out.

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"Okay, everyone back," Leo said as soon as the group appeared back on solid ground. "You, take Maria to the couch." Kyle looked around him and then saw the couch Leo was referring to. He began to walk toward it when he saw Alex appear from another room. _Where did he come from?_ he wondered idly, but the question floated away as he concentrated on placing Maria gently on the couch.

"What happened?" A voice asked, and Kyle realized that Alex had come up behind him.

"She got shot," Kyle said, his voice rising slightly on the word 'shot.' He felt Michael brush past him to crouch at Maria's side, whispering something Kyle couldn't make out but that sounded too personal for his ears anyway. Tess, Liz, Isabel, and Piper came around the back of the couch.

"Move back guys, I need to see her wound," Leo said, pushing himself forward. Kyle tripped back a couple of steps and Alex moved back too, catching Isabel's eye as he did so.

Michael didn't get up; he merely scooted closer to Maria's head, his hand gripping hers. "We need Max," he said.

Leo didn't respond. Instead, he laid his hand over the wound. There was a moment of silence, then a soft blue glow spread out from his hand and Kyle saw the blood that had just been pouring out of the wound begin to disappear. Then Leo removed his hand, and . . . nothing was there. No blood, no wound, not even a hole in the blue paisley shirt that Maria was wearing.

"Uh . . . what just happened?" Maria asked, her eyes blinking open lazily, as if nothing out of the ordinary had taken place.

"Maria!" Liz exclaimed, hurrying around the couch. Maria tried to sit up, but she was overtaken by hugs from Michael and Liz. Alex was pushing his was forward too, and Isabel was moving over to stand by him. Kyle grinned broadly. He caught Tess's eye and saw that she was staring at Leo in confusion.

"What are you?" she asked.

"It's not what you think, Tess," Maria chimed in, trying to wind her head around in a way that she could see Tess through the mass of people surrounding her. In doing so, her eye caught Kyle's shirt, practically soaked through with her blood. "Oh God," she whispered, her face going pale and reminding Kyle unpleasantly of the unnatural tinge her skin had taken on after she had been shot.

Michael's eyes followed hers, and he winced when he saw what she was looking at. "Hey, you're all right now," he murmured, absently rubbing her arm as he stared at Kyle's shirt.

In fact, now everyone's eyes were on the blood covering Kyle's chest, a silent reminder that just moments ago, Maria had been dying. Kyle shifted on his feet. "Uh, I'm just going to go change into something . . . else," he said, looking around.

"Good idea," Piper jumped in. "Come on, I'll get you one of Leo's shirts from upstairs." Kyle sighed with relief and moved to follow Piper upstairs.

"Wait," Leo said. "Before you do anything else, we need to start the spell to bind you guys to this dimension. When are Phoebe and Cole going to be back?"

"You mean they're not back yet?" Piper asked, stopping in her tracks. "We were trying to get out of there for almost half an hour. All Phoebe and Max had to do was get Cole and get out. They should be back by now."

The room went silent, but Kyle could read the question in everyone's minds: _What now?_


	23. Endgame Arc: Power Outage

**Aliens & Demons Pt. 23: The Endgame Arc – Power Outage**

"This does not look good," Phoebe muttered, watching as the guards who had been surrounding Cole moved to point their guns at her and Max as well.

"Why can't he get us out of here?" Max asked in a low voice.

"I don't know!" Phoebe replied. "Maybe there's some sort of spell around this place to keep demons from shimmering out, or maybe the guards did something to neutralize his powers . . . I just don't know."

"You two, be quiet and stay still," one of the guards ordered. "Now would you like to tell me who you are, or do I have to stun you and take you back to a holding cell until we get you identified?"

Max began to speak, but Phoebe motioned for him to keep silent, a ghost of a smile crossing her face. The guard waited. "Well?" he asked finally.

"You told us to stay quiet," she reminded him, blinking innocently in his direction.

The guard who had spoken sighed, his weapon falling a bit as he did so. Phoebe seized the opportunity, pulling down Max's hand and causing his shield to fall, then rushing the guard. The guard grunted when Phoebe's body hit his and she heard other guards raise their weapons in her direction.

"Stop!" Max ordered. He had moved toward her and raised his shield again so that it shielded Phoebe and the guard she had tackled as well as himself. "Put your weapons on the ground." Max sounded forceful, but Phoebe noticed a small hesitation in his voice, and hoped the guards didn't hear the same thing.

"If you want your sergeant here to live, you'll do what he says," she said. She didn't know for sure that the guy she had taken out was the head of the group, but from the hesitation of the rest of the guards, she assumed that she'd guessed right. "Just put down your weapons and step away from him," she added, motioning to Cole, who was still surrounded with armed guards.

There was a moment when nothing moved – not Max, not Cole, not the guards. Then the head guard, the one Phoebe had tackled, spoke up. "All right guys, lower your weapons and back away."

Phoebe raised her eyebrows. _Finally, someone who actually cares about saving his own ass,_ she thought, thinking back to Dr. Valera and her fanatical determination to sacrifice everything for "the project." _How refreshing._

The guards immediately followed their leader's orders and moved away from Cole. Cole moved over to Phoebe as soon as their guns were lowered, but Max's shield stopped him from reaching her. "Hey, you're rescuing me, remember?" he asked, looking at Max.

"I know," Max said steadily. "But once I lower this, the one Phoebe took down will get away and they're all going to come after us again. I just want to make sure we're all ready to go when they do."

"Point taken," Cole conceded. "So, what? On the count of three is cliché, but it would seem to be appropriate in this case."

Max nodded and began to count under his breath, speaking so softly that Phoebe had to strain to hear. "One . . . two . . . three!" The minute he said three, Max put down his hand and began to run. Cole followed, grabbing Phoebe's arm as he went. As Max had predicted, the head guard immediately yelled for his men to follow. Phoebe heard the sound of some of the faster guards (_head of the class at Evil-Scientist-Flunkie Academy,_ Phoebe thought wryly) coming after them and Phoebe sped her steps, ignoring the burn building in her lungs.

"Leo!" she called as Cole pulled her around the corner that Max had just turned. "Leo!"

"Wait," Cole said. He stopped abruptly and Phoebe stared at him in alarm.

"This isn't the time for a moment of reflection, Cole," she said. Without replying, Cole held tightly to her hand and grabbed the shoulder of Max, who had stopped a few feet in front of them, wearing an expression of confusion similar to the one Phoebe figured she had on. Cole closed his eyes, and it was only at the last second that Phoebe realized with a surge of relief what he was doing.

Moments later, they were standing back in the manor foyer, which looked more pleasant to Phoebe than it had in ages.

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"Phoebe! Max! You're okay!" Maria exclaimed from her spot on the couch, drawing everyone's eyes in her direction. She leapt up from the couch, grateful to be given an excuse to stand up and do something. She got that everyone was worried about her after what had happened at Project Endgame, but being consigned to 'resting up' on the couch while everyone else tried to decide how to recover Max, Phoebe, and Cole turned out to be almost painfully boring.

"What, no relieved greeting for me?" Cole asked.

"Oh, look. Cole is alive. Wonderful," Maria said, crossing her arms.

Piper, who had come up behind Maria, moved to hug Phoebe. "You guys were gone for so long. What happened? Did something go wrong?"

"Minor setback. Nothing we couldn't handle," Phoebe said. "I'm glad to see that you guys all got back in one piece." Maria heard Michael snort. Phoebe looked at him in confusion. "Did I miss something?"

"We had a setback or two as well," Piper replied.

"I got shot. I'm thinking it's an experience I don't want to repeat," Maria said, grimacing.

Max's brow crinkled. "You . . . what? How did you-"

"Gee Max, that's a great question. Why don't you explain, Leo?" Tess cut in, looking pointedly at the whitelighter.

"Leo healed me when we got back," Maria explained.

"You can do that?" Max asked, looking at Leo.

Leo sighed. "Yes, I can do that. Now I don't want to sound like a broken record-"

"-anymore than you already do," Maria put in.

"- but now that everyone's back, we've got to make sure you guys stay in this dimension," Leo finished. He handed a crinkled piece of paper and a small satchel, presumably filled with spell ingredients, to Piper. "It's a Power of Three spell. After you say it, name everyone else you want to bind. It works best if you each name the same number of people. Otherwise, most of the power of the spell gets pulled from one person. When you finish, untie the satchel and sprinkle the ingredients in a circle around you."

Max and Cole both backed up a little as Phoebe moved close enough to Piper to read the paper. Maria moved to join them, but Michael came up next to her and stopped her with a hand on her arm.

He nodded toward Piper and Phoebe. "Let them do this by themselves," he said.

Maria met his eyes – dark and concerned, but still impenetrable as ever – and gently moved his hand off of her arm. "I can't," she said. _God, I'll have so much explaining to do in a few minutes,_ she reminded herself as she moved in next to Piper. _And he saw me use my powers back at Project Endgame, didn't he? Crap. Okay, focus. Important spell to perform. Focus on the spell, not the boyfriend._ Maria looked down at the paper, then up at Piper and Phoebe, waiting for their signal to start. There was a silence, and then Phoebe nodded. The three began to recite:

_To this dimension I am bound_

_By ginger clipped and mushroom crowned_

_All those I name now in my sight_

_I bind them too in this holy rite:_

Piper looked up at the room around her. "Leo," she began.

Phoebe spoke next. "Max."

Maria took a deep breath. "Liz."

Piper: "Kyle."

Phoebe: "Cole."

Maria: "Alex."

Piper: "Tess."

Phoebe: "Isabel."

Maria paused and looked straight into Michael's eyes. "Michael."

Piper handed the paper with the spell on it to Phoebe and carefully untied the bag with the spell ingredients in it and sprinkled its contents around the three of them. Once the circle went all the way around, the spell ingredients began to glow softly. Maria felt a soft pulling sensation for a moment, then a release. The ingredients in the circle drifted up into the air a few inches as if a breeze had taken hold of them, then floated back to the ground.

"I think it worked," Piper said, assessing the group.

"I feel dimension-bound," Phoebe agreed.

"That's it?" Alex asked. "I'm actually kind of disappointed. I expected more."

"Okay, what is going on?" Liz broke in. "Where are we? How do Alex and Maria know what's going on? Am I the only one who has no idea what's going on here?"

"You're definitely not the only one," Kyle said. "But I'm kind of in a constant state of cluelessness when it comes to this crap, so maybe I don't count. Still, I'm with Liz. An explanation would be nice."

Maria looked around and saw that everyone was looking at her expectantly, even Leo, Phoebe, and Piper. "All right, I guess I'll be explaining then," she muttered. "Feel free to jump in at any point, guys . . ."


	24. Endgame Arc: Aftermath

**Aliens & Demons Pt. 24: The Endgame Arc - Aftermath**

_Author's Note: This is the last full chapter of Aliens and Demons, but there's an epilogue upcoming. Also, in the interest of full disclosure, I will mention that a couple bits of Michael and Maria's conversation at the end of the chapter come from interactions in the Roswell episode "Heart of Mine."_

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"So . . ." Maria looked around her, focusing in on Liz and Michael.

"Wait, let me get this straight? You, this chick, and this other chick are all witches? And you didn't think this was a significant enough development to share with the rest of us?" Michael asked, furrowing his brows.

"I told you, I wanted to! But after Max found out, I promised I wouldn't let anyone else in without telling Piper and Phoebe."

"And by 'telling' us, you mean, coming to us with a solid case and getting the go-ahead from both of us _and_ Leo, I assume?" Piper asked.

"Yes, exactly," Maria said triumphantly. "See what I was up against, Michael? I couldn't just go telling you guys after promising Piper and Phoebe I wouldn't."

"But Alex knows too," Liz pointed out diplomatically. Maria tried to judge whether Liz was jumping in out of anger or pity, but her friend's face remained neutral.

"Well, yeah, because I thought it was the only way to keep him from getting kidnapped by aliens," Maria replied.

"I'm afraid I'm still a little confused," Tess said. "Were the people that took us after you guys, or after us aliens?"

"Both," Phoebe said. "We don't know as much as we would like to yet, unfortunately, but from what Saffron said when they first captured us, these people want to study witches, aliens, demons, and pretty much anyone else out of the ordinary they can get their hands on."

"Lovely," Kyle muttered. "So now Liz and I count as part of the alien horde too?"

Isabel rolled her eyes. "Perfect, Kyle. Paint us all as a horde. That'll really help get the People for the Ethical Treatment of Aliens on our case."

"You and Liz were healed by aliens, which makes you both fair game, I'm afraid," Maria said, patting Kyle on the shoulder. He shot her a puzzled glance and Maria, embarrassed, put her hand down. She couldn't help but sympathize, though. Kyle was the one friend she had who could always be counted on to be as disturbed, annoyed, and disgusted by any given instance of alien craziness as she was. _Except that now I'm not freaking out along with him. I've been so focused on what's going on that I've actually forgotten to be disturbed._

"So, how do we stay safe?" Max asked, serious and to-the-point as ever.

"The spell should keep you guys safe for the moment," Leo assured him.

"Well, as relieved as I am that we're not about to get trapped in that crazy mad-scientist hell again, I'm more interested in how we stop them now that we know about them," Piper said. Silence descended on the group. Maria looked to Leo, but he looked just as lost this time as everyone else. _Guess that annoying Whitelightery knowledge can't answer every question after all._

"Um, guys?" Alex broke in, glancing up at the Halliwells's ornate grandfather clock. "I get that this is important, but could those of us in the peanut gallery suggest that we save this topic for some time when we haven't just narrowly escaped experimentation and capture? I mean, I'm all for getting rid of these people, but isn't it getting kind of late to form a plan of action tonight?"

"Motion seconded," Kyle said immediately.

"The peanut gallery only gets _one_ vote, Kyle," Michael muttered. Maria smirked.

"No, Alex is right," Phoebe said. "We've all had a long night. We're not going to dismantle Project Endgame in the next four hours. But before we go our separate ways, I have something I want to ask those of you coming to us from the alien side of the equation."

Max nodded. "Go ahead."

"Are you sure you want to play a part in this?" Phoebe asked. "Piper, Maria and I are the Charmed Ones. It's our job to do this. You guys just got thrown into this by random, crappy chance. None of us would blame you if you just wanted to go back to your normal lives and let us handle it."

"We're doing it," Max said right away.

"Max . . ." Isabel said, moving closer to him, "shouldn't we at least talk about it as a group? I'm not saying I think we shouldn't get involved," she added hastily, "but I don't know if this is something we should jump into without discussing it first."

Max paused. "I realize that," he said after a moment. "But we've always made decisions based on what's best for every member of the group. And Maria's part of this no matter what, which means that all of us are involved no matter what we might decide." He looked at Alex, Kyle, and Liz, his eyes lingering on Liz for a moment before resting on Maria. "You guys decided to help Isabel, Michael, Tess and I when you didn't have to. Now I want to return the favor."

Maria felt her eyes getting a little misty. _No, I'm not going to get all gooey when I've finally gotten some hero cred by helping save my friends' lives with my special powers,_ Maria ordered herself._ Don't wanna undermine my newfound coolness._ She shook her head quickly and grinned. "See?" she said, turning to Piper and Phoebe. "I might be new, but I'm already bringing the firepower."

"Okay guys," Leo said, smiling. "Who wants to get orbed home first? Alex?"

"Sure," Alex said, shrugging amiably. "Wait, no," he broke in, cringing. He paused as the rest of the group looked at him curiously. "My parents aren't expecting me home until tomorrow," he admitted. "I told them that I was staying at Maria's tonight because we were studying late."

Liz started laughing and Maria grimaced. "And they believed you? You know I love you, dude, but we do _not_ have sleepovers together."

"They think I'm staying in Sean's room while he's out of town," Alex said.

"But Sean's not out of town," Maria pointed out.

"That's why they call it lying, Maria."

Maria rolled her eyes. "I _mean_, since Sean's not really out of town, there's nowhere for you to sleep at my house."

"You can stay at my house," Liz offered. "We've got a spare bedroom, and my parents will freak out less about me being gone this late if they think that I've been with you."

"So, I'm taking you guys to the Crashdown, then?" Leo asked.

Liz looked taken aback that Leo knew where she lived, but she nodded. "Um, yeah."

"Why don't I just drop everyone off there?" Leo suggested.

"I live miles away from there!" Kyle protested.

"Kyle . . ." Liz said, giving him an exasperated look.

Kyle rolled his eyes. "Fine, I'll get my dad to pick Tess and I up."

"All right then," Leo said, nodding. "Everyone grab a hold." The group moved forward to put a hand on Leo, all somewhat tentative with the exception of Isabel, who had begun to approach orbing with the same disaffection that Maria now did.

"Aren't you coming, Maria?" Michael asked, seeing that she hadn't moved forward with the rest of the Roswell group.

Maria paused. "I was just going to talk to Piper and Phoebe for a minute before I go," she said. She glanced at Leo. "Is that okay?"

Leo shrugged, or at least made a motion that resembled as much of a shrug as he could manage with seven people's hands on him. "Fine with me."

Michael, however, looked bothered. Maria sighed. "I'll call you when I go home, Michael," she assured him.

"Sure, whatever," Michael said, looking as though he was trying to adopt his customary blank, unaffected gaze. Maria smirked and watched as Leo orbed the clump of her friends back to Roswell.

Once they had disappeared, Maria turned her full attention to Piper and Phoebe. "Wow," she said. "That was . . ."

Phoebe smiled. "Yeah."

"Does this kind of thing happen often?" Maria asked.

"I wouldn't say often," Phoebe assured her. "Semi-often. Often-ish. This would be considered one of our busy nights, trust me."

"Well, I guess that's something," Maria muttered. "Hey, wait a minute. Where'd Cole go?"

"I'm still here," Cole said, coming down the stairs with a pale blue sweater, which he handed to Phoebe.

"Thank you, Cole," Phoebe said, giving him a brief kiss on the lips and then slipping the sweater over her head.

"Aww, a domestic demon," Maria noted. "How sweet." Still, Phoebe putting on the sweater made Maria suddenly aware of the cool temperature in the room. She crossed her arms in front of her and rubbed her hands against her biceps to warm herself up.

Phoebe smirked. "Mock on, blondie. One of us is now cold, and it's not the girl with the former demon for a boyfriend."

"Speaking of demons," Cole cut in, "I made a trip to the underworld after you guys disappeared. A couple days ago, a demon escaped from the place where you guys were taken. It's raised a panic among some of the demons down there. Leo said that you already vanquished the guy, but I thought you'd like to know anyway."

Maria absorbed Cole's words, and then her eyes slowly widened. "You mean that Oblong Dung guy?"

"The name was _Aolong Dao_," Piper corrected, smiling slightly.

"Yeah, him," Maria said.

"That's the one," Cole confirmed, nodding.

"I told you guys there was something weird about him!" Maria exclaimed, looking from Phoebe to Piper triumphantly.

"Yeah, fine, you were right," Piper conceded. "But wait. You mean, no one in the Underworld knew about Project Endgame either?"

"No one who's lived to tell about it before now," Cole said. "A lot of demons still think Aolong Dao was crazy, but he's caused a pretty big stir nonetheless."

The conversation was interrupted when Leo orbed back in. "All right, they're all back in Roswell," he said. "You ready to go, Maria?"

Maria nodded. "I guess. No more craziness planned for tonight, right?"

Phoebe smiled. "We'll do our best." She walked over to Maria and gave her a brief, firm hug. "Good job," she whispered before stepping back, making Maria smile. "I'll make sure to keep you updated if we get anything new."

"I'll talk to you soon too," Piper said. "There's actually something I wanted to ask you about."

"What?" Maria asked.

Piper waved a hand dismissively. "We can talk tomorrow. You should get home." Maria nodded and reached over to grab Leo's arm.

"See you guys," she said, giving the other witches a little wave as she and Leo orbed away.

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"Hello?"

"Michael, it's me."

"Maria?"

"Of course, Maria. Who else would be calling you this late?"

"I don't know. It's been a weird night, you know."

"Right. So . . ."

"So . . ."

"All right, well, I should go to bed. Mom just got done yelling at me for making her think I was dead on a roadside somewhere, and I think I lost my phone privileges. It's hard to tell with her sometimes."

"That sucks."

"Yeah. But I said I'd call, so I figured I should, considering . . ."

"Thanks."

"Hey, Michael?"

"Yeah?"

"Are you planning on asking me to prom sometime this century?"

"I don't do proms."

"Hey, prom is potentially one of the five greatest nights of my life. Believe me when I say, Michael, that I am ready to have one of the five greatest nights of my life right now, after everything that has happened. But if you're going to let your silly, misguided principles interfere with my night of happiness. . ."

"Maria, would you go to prom with me?"

"Why, Michael, I'm so glad you asked."

"Uh huh."

"Wait, are you only asking me to prom because you're feeling extra goodwill toward me after everything that happened tonight with the whole 'me getting shot' thing?"

"Just shut up and say yes."

"Oh, fine. Yes, Michael, I will go to prom with you. Thank you."

"See you tomorrow, Maria. I'm glad you're okay."

"Yeah, you too. Bye."

"Bye."


	25. Epilogue: How Soon is Now?

**Aliens & Demons Pt. 25: Epilogue – How Soon Is Now?**

_Author's Note: Here's the epilogue, sorry it took so long for me to get it up. Thanks again to everyone who read and especially who reviewed this story; I hope you've enjoyed it._

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"Liz, over here!" Maria called, catching her friend's eye and motioning her over to the table where she and Alex were seated.

"I so disloyal to my family for coming here," Liz muttered, scanning the small diner as she came to sit down. "Why couldn't we have done this at the Crashdown?"

"Liz, we're there for hours every week. You _live_ there. Don't you want to get out on your day off?" Maria asked.

"Well, yes," Liz admitted, "but did we have to come to the only other alien-themed restaurant in Roswell? This place is my family's biggest competition." She motioned behind her, toward the stenciled silver-and-blue planets and galaxies adorning the walls.

"Well, sorry, but it was either this or Senor Chow's, and that place is now ruined for me after that horrible double date we had there last year," Maria replied. "Besides, this place isn't alien-themed, it's space-themed. Big difference. Anyway-"

"What can I get you guys?" A waitress broke in, looking boredly down at them.

"Some fries and a Milky Way shake, please?" Maria asked.

"I'll have a slice of Mars Mud Pie and a Pepsi," Alex added.

"Will do," the waitress said. "Anything for you, hon?" she asked, looking down at Liz.

"Just a coffee," Liz muttered.

"Alright, I'll be back in a few minutes with your orders; here's the coffee," the waitress said, grabbing a carafe of coffee from the nearby drink station and setting it down on the table before she walked away.

"Thanks," Maria said as the waitress left. Then she shifted her eyes to Liz and Alex. "All right, let's do this."

"Right. So, any news from the sisters?" Liz asked as she emptied a plastic container of creamer into her coffee.

"Nothing big. Leo and Cole are both trying to get info from the Elders and the Underworld, respectively. So far, no one knows much of anything about what Project Endgame is other than what we've already figured out."

"That's so weird," Liz muttered. "Some big organization that's been in operation for thousands of years and no one knows anything? How do you just hide your existence like that?"

"Building your headquarters in a different dimension is probably a good start," Alex pointed out. "What about Andrea, or whoever she really was? Any ideas about what happened to her?"

Maria shrugged. "Isabel said that she saw her chest moving when she came out of the dreamwalk, so she's not dead, despite how it looked in my crazy, drug-induced hallucination. But Isabel never brought Saffron out of the dreamwalk, so . . ."

"So, what?" Liz asked, frowning. "She's alive, just, like, trapped in your subconscious?"

"Now there's a truly frightening prospect," Alex mused.

"Do you _want_ to get hit?" Maria asked, raising her hand.

"Oh, and didn't you say that Piper wanted to talk to you about something? What was going on there?" Liz asked.

"Oh, right!" Maria exclaimed, grinning widely and bouncing in her seat a little. "How could I have forgotten? So apparently, Piper's booked Nelly Furtado to play her club in a few weeks, and she offered to let me do a couple songs before the opening act comes on to be, like, the opener for the opener for Nelly Furtado."

"Maria, that's great!" Liz exclaimed, hugging her friend.

"One Milky Way, one order of fries, one Mars Mud, a Pepsi, and a coffee," the waitress said, coming up to the table. "Holler if you want anything else; if not, pay up front when you're ready."

"Oh, and I almost forgot," Maria said, taking a sip from her shake and then looking at Alex as the waitress walked away. "What's the story with you and Miss Isabel? That was some kiss she gave you."

"Wait, wait. Back up," Liz demanded. "Isabel kissed you? How have I not heard about this?"

"It was right before we went back into Project Endgame to get you guys," Maria explained. "It was pretty hot too, I've gotta say. So, what's the deal? Is she finally gonna make a man out of our little Alexie-wexie?"

Alex rolled his eyes, but a smile was playing at the corners of his mouth. "We're just taking it slow. You know, hang out a few times, go to prom together-"

"You asked her to the prom?" Maria squealed.

"Actually, she asked me," Alex said. "But yeah, we're going together. Let it never again be said that Alex Whitman is a lightweight of the dating world."

"Yeah, try to contain your ego for a few minutes more, at least," Liz said, smiling. "Not all of us have our prom dates all sewn up."

"Liz, just ask Max," Maria said. "It doesn't have to be some weird, soulmate-y thing. Just say, 'you know, we've had our issues, but you're my friend, and I know you can dance, and my only viable alternative is Kyle Valenti, so how about we go to the prom together?'"

Liz laughed, and Alex raised an amused eyebrow. "When you guys are done," he said, "I was wondering how things were going with Maria's pecial-say owers-pay."

Maria shrugged and stirred her milkshake absently. "It's okay, I guess. I think I've gotten it mostly under control so far, although Leo has assured me that I still have a long way to go before my, uh, _talents_ are at the same place Prue's were. She got a second ability eventually too, so it's likely that I'll get something new to figure out as soon as I finally get full control of this whole taxidermy thing."

Liz frowned. "I'm sorry, _taxidermy_? Did I miss something?"

"Well, I can't just talk about . . . you know," Maria mimed waving something across the room with her hand, "if I don't have a code word for it."

"Well, okay," Liz conceded, "but taxidermy? Really? That's what you came up with?"

Maria sighed. "If it really bugs you, I can use, like, jump-roping or something."

Liz caught Alex's eye and the two shared a brief look of amusement. "No, no, taxidermy is fine," Liz said.

"Anyway, I'm getting better. I haven't flung anymore jars of preserved food at whiny customers, so I'd say I'm getting control."

"The cherry thing was you!" Liz exclaimed, eyes widening. "Well, obviously. I can't believe I didn't put two and two together earlier."

"Yeah, sorry about that, by the way," Maria replied. "I didn't even realize that I was a wit- I mean, _taxidermist_ at the time. Oh, and for the record . . ." Maria paused, examining the silver-speckled tabletop. "I'm also sorry that I didn't tell you what was going on, Liz."

Liz shrugged and gave her a faint smile. "Its fine, I get why you couldn't. I'm sorry I was so hard on you."

"But I _do_ trust you, Liz." Maria insisted. "I hated not telling you what was up. Especially when the whole April thing happened . . ."

Liz frowned. "What do you mean?"

Maria cringed. _I forgot to tell her. How could I forget to tell her?_ "Well, we don't know for sure, but we think that April was a taxidermist, like Phoebe and Piper and I. There was an, um . . . _animal rights activist_ in town who-"

"Maria, I think you can stop with the taxidermy metaphor for the moment," Alex interrupted. "This place is pretty dead."

Maria glanced around the café, which was, as Alex had pointed out, nearly empty. She nodded, but leaned in and began speaking in a low voice nonetheless. "Okay, so there was this demon who we think wanted to get to me and kill me before I was a full-fledged Charmed One. He was basically just killing any witch he could find, and that happened to include April. He even had a date set up with-" Maria stopped short and glanced at Alex. "Uh, never mind, that's not important. Anyway, we, you know, stuffed him and mounted him, to speak as a taxidermist would."

Liz blinked. "Wow." She was silent for a moment.

"Liz?" Maria ventured, unsure how to interpret her friend's silence.

"I mean, don't get me wrong, it's great that you guys took him out," Liz assured her. "It's just . . . what if it _had_ been you the demon had gotten to, instead of April?"

Maria bit her lip. "It wasn't," she said, "and it's not going to be. Don't worry."

Alex looked at Maria and Liz's somber faces, and a slow smile began to cross his face.

Maria raised an eyebrow at him. "Uh, Alex? We're trying to have a moment here."

"Yeah, I got that," Alex admitted. "Sorry. I just keep picturing you with a demon stuffed and mounted in your room."

Liz and Maria stared at him for a moment, and then Maria burst into laughter. Liz looked at Alex and Maria and a smile spread across her face. She threw an empty container of creamer at Alex. "You're a terrible person, you know that?" she asked, but she was wearing an amused expression.

"I have a prom date who might beg to differ," Alex replied.

Liz rolled her eyes. "Why do I feel like you'll bringing that up at every possible opportunity right up until prom?"

"Probably because I will be," Alex said.

Maria smirked and took a sip of her milkshake. And for the moment, at least, all thoughts of aliens and demons flew out of her brain to make room for the prom-riddled banter of her two best friends.


End file.
